Escaping the apocalypse
by Backseat reader
Summary: Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Blake try to make it out of Vale alive. Should be easy if the world wasn't being attacked by mutated monsters that seemed to only want to corrupt all of humanity. Moving across Vale would be easy, but it wasn't called a metropolis for nothing. ON HIATUS SORRY
1. Prologue

"Experiment #1 of Gall Rhabdomyoma Integument Malignant Macroevolution. Code name: G.R.I.M.M"

Salem was shoved into a clear white room, a one way mirror on one wall and a white pedestal in the centre of the room, she scrambled up as the door shut behind her.

"Let me out!" She screamed

"Subject G-2789, name Salem, last name unknown. Gender female. Perfect health, infertile. Death penalty for manslaughter, kidnapping, torture. Was injected with sedative and official date of death is 17/8/2177"

Salem looked around and focused on the pedestal. The only object in the room.

"Beginning testing"

"What do you want?" She shouted

The pedestal in the centre of the room opened. She watched it tensely. When nothing happened she relaxed but did not approach the open top.

The there was a slither, then a viscous fluid flowed out the top and flopped onto the floor. She took several steps back as the fluid distorted as if it was looking around.

"What the fuck is that?" Asked Salem as she scrambled backward, away from the fluid that was now slithering toward her.

She hit a wall and scrambled sideways before she found her self in the corner, she slid down it as she kicked toward it.

"Get the fuck away from me!" She shouted as the liquid got closer and closer.

She kicked it with her foot and it connected, the liquid rippled before wrapping around her foot.

"No! No! Get off me!" She screamed as she stamped her foot which was beginning to feel weird. The liquid did not care as it flowed up her leg. She thrashed as it easily slid over her torso and approached her head. She grabbed it with her hand and threw it but it stuck to her hand and flowed up her arm. She tried to wipe it off with her other arm but it wrapped to the other side of the arm.

It then leapt at her face and she opened her mouth to shout or scream, it wrapped around her open mouth and forced itself in.

She felt it force itself down her throat and she choked. She felt her skin wriggling and brought up her hand, staring in wide eyed horror as black tumours grew on her hands.

She watched as her skin turned pale and her hair grew, no longer brown and shaved but white. Salem spasmed and fell to the floor as more of the black goo began to pool around her, her skin going white and black veins growing round her eyes.

Then she stopped as more liquid flowed around her.

She felt only one thing.

Hate

"Subjects life signs still show positive, she's conscious"

"Subject G-2789, please give a sign you can move?"

The body twitched and Salem slowly rose, her back to the mirror. They could see her white skin and her white hair that fell down her back having grown out from its shaved state.

"Subject G-2789, please turn towards the mirror"

Her head turned slightly.

"My name" she turned to fully to reveal her red eyes "is Salem"

"Subject G-2789 has undergone a transformation, her skin has turned to white. The sclera has turned black and her irises have turned red, the subject is producing more of the G.R.I.M.M fluid. Subject G-2789 vital's are-"

" **MY NAME IS SALEM!** " She screamed and raised her hand as fluid shot toward the mirror and it began to crack at the continuous stream.

"Security to Experiment room 17! Subject is hostile and attempting to escape!"

The room was beginning to fill with the fluid, Salem being obscured by the fluid. Security personnel got on either side of the door and crouched in from of it. The captain gave a nod and one of the soldiers opened the door.

The door slid open to reveal a wall of black, they opened fire but the liquid simply absorbed the bullets. The captain held up his hand and the shooting stopped.

Then the liquid burst free, but instead of flooding the corridor like a normal liquid it spread like a wall. Fast.

The men didn't even have time to scream as they were absorbed by the liquid, it expanded into the corridor and spread through the facility quickly. Personnel ran down corridors fruitlessly as the liquid easily overran them and absorbed them into the mass.

Soon the facility was silent, every room, corridor and crevice filled with black fluid. Except for a small pocket as Salem easily walked through it, walking down the corridors seemingly knowing where to go. Soon she found herself in front of a heavy metal door, clearly part of the lockdown procedure.

The liquid flowed over the door and seeped into the cracks. After a few seconds she spread her arms wide and the door was wrenched open, she was bathed in the light of spotlights as she saw various guns and weapons pointed at her.

"Subject G-2789, stand down"

"I am **Salem** " she announced

She raised her arms and the liquid around her rippled before figures stumbled out of it. Black skinned with bone plates spotted on their bodies, their mouths were wide, easily being half their head circumference and filled with sharp glittering teeth, long black tongues that lead to a glowing red throat. The most intimidating feature were their red, soulless eyes framed by a bone mask.

"And **we** are the **Grimm** "

The figures screeched as they stumbled forward as the soldiers opened fire.


	2. Horror night

Ruby walked down the street, the night air of Vale a change from the cleaner air of patch. She breathed in as she listened to her music. The street around her was empty, the street lights casting an orange glow over the streets as she approached a street corner.

She huffed when the music was interrupted by the sound of a phone call. She brought her scroll out and saw that her sister, Yang, was calling.

She answered the call and brought it to her ear.

She heard frantic panicked breaths.

"Yang? Everything alright?" She asked, feeling a knot of anxiety growing inside her.

"Ruby!" Shouted Yang in relief "Oh thank god! Where are you?"

"I'm on 54th street?" Said Ruby confused

"Alright, activate your tracker, I'm coming to you!" Said Yang and Ruby could hear her grabbing keys.

"Yang? Your scaring me" Said Ruby worriedly

"It's okay, I'm coming to you"

"Yang wh-" she was cut off as Yang cut off the call.

Shakily she activated the app and watched as a yellow blip appeared on the map of Vale, showing Yang speeding toward her through the streets, far over the limit.

She looked around her and simply saw the street, same as before. But it seemed different now, almost threatening. Then she heard a weird clanking sound, like two bits of metal tapping together accompanied with the sloshing of water.

She looked toward the source, it was a man hole cover in the centre of the street. It was rattling as water poured out from it, forming a small puddle around the cover.

She looked around before slowly going up to it, the rattling becoming louder as she approached. She was several feet away when the man hole exploded, the metal flying high up into the air as more water poured from the hole. Upon closer inspection she realized that it was black and seemed to be heading towards her.

She took several hasty steps back before she quickly ran back to the side walk, she stood and stared as the liquid built up and the puddle grew bigger. She jumped when the man hole slammed next to her, she backed away from it shakily.

She heard a shuffling of feet, she looked up to see a person stumbling toward her. It was a man, but he was hunched over and coughing, his clothes telling her he was homeless.

"Help me" he rasped as he stumbled up to her and began gagging.

Ruby backed away wide eyed as he fell to the ground and began coughing and screeching in pain as his body spasmed.

His skin grew black tumors as he coughed up black liquid.

"Hel-" he was cut off as he gave a final spasm and collapsed, a crack sounding out as his jaw broke on the concrete. His skin turned black and grew, overtaking his clothes and white bony protrusions grew over his body.

Ruby took a few steps forward, not sure how she could help. Then the man suddenly snapped back to life by slamming his now black and white clawed hand onto the concrete.

Ruby gave a shriek and fell over as the man looked up, his eyes now glowing red as his unhinged jaw lolled open exposing giant white teeth and a glowing red gullet, a black tongue lolling out and twitching.

It began to snarl as it crawled toward her.

"No" she yelled shakily as she scrambled away on all fours "Stay away!"

She continued to crawl as the man began to catch up to her, growling snd snarling.

His hand wrapped around her boot painfully and she gave a cry as the man hauled himself forward and opened his jaw, preparing to chomp down on her leg.

Then there was a screech behind her and a bang as the man's head exploded into black liquid.

She turned and saw Yang, helmet-less and holding a shotgun in one hand, still smoking. Ruby saw she already had blood on her clothes and her face and eyes looked like she had been crying.

"Ruby! Get on!" Shouted Yang

Ruby nodded in shock and quickly hopped on behind Yang, wrapping her arms around her sisters waist and looking down the street Yang had come from gasping as her eyes widened.

Stumbling down the street was a horde of people, similar in appearance to the man Yang had just killed. Then Yang hit the throttle and shot forward, Ruby burying her head between the girls shoulder blades. After a few minutes she reopened her eyes and watched as they drove down streets filled with people running as the red eyed people chased them.

They passed by a shop that was burning as the creatures clumsily crawled inside and gunshots echoed out. In front of them a car stopped and several of the creatures ran at it, smashing the windows and crawling inside as they swerved round it.

"Where's mum?" she yelled over the noise of the engine.

Yang didn't answer and instead looked behind them, cursing when she saw a crowd of the red eyed people still following. She turned down a street which was surprisingly empty brought her bike to a stop on the side of the street, quickly hopping off and picking up a large bag, slinging it round her shoulders.

"Yang, what's going on?" Asked Ruby scared as tears poured down her cheeks.

"I don't know Ruby, we need to get to that church. We'll be safe inside" Said Yang as she began to run, pulling Ruby by the hand down the street.

"Where's mum?" Asked Ruby scared

Yang remained silent as she ran toward the church, It's bell tower looming over the street as Yang quickly opened the thick wood doors and raised the shotgun, sweeping round before dragging Ruby in and closing the door. She then went and dragged several pews in front of the door, Ruby watching on as tears continued down her face as she shook in fear.

"Yang?" She said quietly

Yang paused in dragging the fourth pew toward the door, panting as she looked at Ruby. The crazed look in her eye leaving and being replaced with the parental look she always took when she talked to Ruby growing up.

She dumped the bag, wiped her hands on a cloth and walked up to Ruby, sitting next to her on the pew.

Ruby immediately clung to her.

"What's going on Yang?" She asked quietly then whimpered as inhuman and human screeches echoed about outside along with gunshots.

"I don't know Rubes" she whispered as she stroked the girls hair "I don't know"

"Where's mum?" She asked shaking

"She's… I don't know" Yang hated lying to her sister.

They sat in the church as the sounds of the world ending echoed from outside.

~§~

Weiss was studying when a maid burst into the room. Before she could ask in anger what the maid was thinking the maid was already talking.

"Pack your things Miss Schnee, Mr Schnee is evacuating the Manor" Said the maid hurriedly as she went over to the wardrobe and opened up a suit case, beginning to put in clothes.

"Why? What's the reason?" Asked Weiss, confused.

"I don't know Miss" Said the maid as she continued to pack clothes.

"Where are we going?" Asked Weiss as she began to collect a few personal items.

"I don't know Miss" Said the maid again as she continued to pack. Weiss was walking over to pick up her scroll when there was a snarl from the corridor followed by stumbling footsteps.

The maid also paused and turned to look at the door, her eyes wide.

From the door way stumbled a figure, engulfed in shadows and two glowing red eyes. Then the figure opened its mouth to reveal sharp teeth and a black tongue, a red glow coming from its throat.

The figure gave a breathy moan and stumbled forward, reaching forward with a clawed hand as it stumbled toward the maid.

"Stay away!" Shouted the maid as she stumbled back, falling to the floor.

Weiss watched on wide eyed and looked for something, anything to use. She looked up at the wall and saw the case that held the ancestral sword Myrtenaster, given to her by her father when Winter had left to join the military.

She grabbed the case and threw it at the creature, it hit the creature and knocked it against the closet. The glass of the case shattered as the creature scrambled on the floor. Myrtenaster fell from the case and bounced to her feet.

She looked down at it and looked up to see that the creature was now coming for her. She acted on instinct and picked up the sword, it was heavier then the fencing swords, but she was able to lift it as she brought it up and adopted a fencing pose.

The creature got within range and she swiped, slicing the creature across the chest. It stumbled back as black goo dripped from the wound, then it continued forward, not caring for the damage.

Weiss contained her surprise and sliced again, the creature stumbled but continued. The creature's mouth and teeth looking like a mocking grin as it looked at her with soulless eyes.

She swiped at the neck and the creature fell to the floor as the head rolled away from the body. She breathed heavily before running over to the maid.

"Are you okay?" She asked as she looked the maid over.

The maid's eyes were wide but she nodded.

"We need to get out of here, we're going to the hangar right?"

The maid nodded as she kept her eyes on the body which Weiss noticed was beginning to dissolve and evaporate into a black mist.

"Come on, let's go" Said Weiss pulling her up and dragging her toward the door, suitcase forgotten as Weiss entered the corridor to see it was empty.

The maid was able to run on her own and together they ran down the corridor, something Weiss always hated about the castle was how empty it was which caused it to be echoey. As they ran they heard people shouting and snarls along with gun shots.

They were running through empty corridors, their footsteps echoing around them. Then a servant stumbled out from around the corner holding a shotgun and firing at something, a creature stumbled out and jumped on him, beginning to maul him as he screamed and thrashed.

Weiss stared, pale, as the creature which was missing an arm easily tore chunks out of the man. The man had stopped screaming and now a puddle of blood was surrounding them as a few more creatures rounded the corner and ran at them.

Weiss was able to shake herself and scramble back before turning and running down another corridor, the maid behind her as they fled, the creatures behind them.

They fled further and finally made it to the hangar, security staff letting them in as they picked off the creatures following them. She was escorted to a large white cruiser. A small part of her noted how her parents hadn't even checked if she was okay and had simply sent a maid to get her.

She was shown into a private room and sat next to the window. She watched as personnel put stuff into the cruiser calmly despite the sound of gun fore and screeches.

Then she gasped as one of the heavy metal doors began to dent and clawing echoed through the hangar personnel began running about and seemed to be trying to get onto the cruiser. She heard shouting and eventually a gunshot followed by shouts and screams.

Then the door burst and hundreds of the black creatures fell over each other in some sort of tidal wave as they entered the hangar, snarling and growling.

Then the engines started up and the cruiser lifted, the shouting and screaming became even louder as the cruiser began to slide out of the hangar. She watched in horror as she saw that many personnel had been left behind in the hangar as the cruiser entered the air. Just as the creatures reached them did they go out of view, cowering in fear.

She wanted to get up and protest, demand that they go back. But knew it was already useless, both to argue with her parents and those people were likely dead.

She watched as the cruiser flew through the air, then the reality of it began to hit her and she broke down, crying in into her hands, alone in the room. Not knowing where her family was nor where Winter was or if she was safe.

She cried and hoped that looking out the window would make her feel better but when she looked she watched in horror as atlesian cruisers fired upon the city, explosions and fire coming from the ground as she watched. Bombs falling to the city and erupting in explosions of fire and ice.

She curled up in the chair and pretended that everything was fine as she finally realized the situation.

~a few hours later~

She woke up and looked around, hoping it was a dream. But she looked around to see she was in her private room of the cruiser. She looked out the window to see another city, Vale, burning below her. She looked around when she realized what had awoken her, screaming and snarling. She tip toed shakily up to the door and peeked through the crack. She suppressed a gasp as she saw staff being attacked by the creatures.

She took several startled steps back as she began to shake in fear. How did they get on board? What even were these creatures? Where were her family? Why was this happening?

Another scream pulled her from her thoughts and she quickly looked at the door as shadows passed by.

She closed it and shoved furniture up against the door as it began to shake from something pounding on the other side. She felt the aircraft rumble and everything went quiet for a moment, as if time froze.

Then an explosion sounded and the cruiser jolted. She felt the ground leave her feet and she was suspended in midair. She looked out the window and saw the sky and the city being switched round regularly as the cruiser fell to the ground.

She struggled about to try and do something, anything as the ground grew closer. She heard the door open and turned to see that one of the creatures had crashed through the door, thrashing as it floated. Weiss moved away, and closed her hand around the floating Myrtenaster, pointing it at the creature as it floated and snarled at her. She glanced out the window to see that they were about to hit the ground.

Her eyes widened as she opened her mouth to say something, anything, befo-

~§~

Blake ran, she had seen what that stuff had done to the grunts handling it if they accidentally spilled a drop, she wasn't going to be a part of releasing that into the city. Surly Adam would see sense?

She entered his 'office' which was simply a room with a door. She saw him talking to someone over a scroll and he held up a hand at her, she stopped and remained silent obediently. The hand was a gesture she had grown used to in their relationship.

The call lasted several minutes before Adam finally closed it and turned his red eyes towards her.

"How are you my dear?" He asked with a bored expression, as if he didn't really care.

"You can't be serious" she blurted and immediately silenced herself, biting her tongue at her tactlessness.

"About what?" Asked Adam warningly

Blake was about to say something, then flinched and looked at the floor.

"Speak!" Adam slammed a hand to his desk and she jumped

"The liquid" she said

"Grimm" He said nodding "what about it?"

"You can't be serious about releasing it into the kingdoms" Said Blake

"I am, and we will" Said Adam, his voice final and turning to show the conversation was over.

Blake knew that was the end of it, but something made her stay and open her mouth.

"I will not"

Adam paused, then turned to her with a dangerous look in his eye "What did you say?"

Blake was frozen, like a deer in the headlights as Adam stalked toward her.

"I won't be a part of thi-"

She only just avoided the blow that came her way, dodging under the hit as she backed up to the door. Adam looked at her angrily as he breathed heavily.

"You will do as I say"

"No, this is too far Adam. You can't control this stuff. It's dangerous! Have you not seen what it's done?" Asked Blake desperately

"Yes, I have seen what it can do to humans. Which is precisely why we're going to release it into the kingdoms. I have contacts in Menagerie which will make it a safe haven for Faunus. And soon we will be the dominant species on this planet"

"No, those creatures will be the dominant species. And you'll be cowering on your island" Said Blake

"Blake" he said dangerously low "your either with me, or against me"

"I'm not against you" Said Blake before she shook her head and opened the door "but I'm not with you either"

"You can't stop this Blake!" He Shouted

"I know" Blake walked out the door "but I'll do my best to fight it"

She left and Adam was alone in the office looking at the door, his body shaking in rage.

"Blake…"

Blake ran down corridors, she knew she could stop the release of the Grimm worldwide but she could stop it here. She ran down more corridors and eventually made it to the storage area, a massive vat sat at the end of the room. A churning sound emanating from it and at its base a hole bored into the ground, the foul smell of the sewers wafting up from it.

She looked around and saw several crates of fire dust, she began to push it toward the vat, pushing it up till it was against the bottom. She repeated this with several more crates until a small pile of fire dust crates were built up at the bottom of the vat.

By now the liquid seemed to be reacting to the dust, the churning becoming loud and even agitated as growling noises emanated from the vat.

She ran to the end of the room, opposite to the vat and got behind a metal crate. She pulled out her hand gun and aimed it at the crates.

The door to the storage area opened and Adam entered followed by several grunts. He saw the crates and looked around, his eyes narrowing at Blake

"Don't-"

Blake fired.

A roar of fire exploded at the base of the vat and Blake swore she heard a screech coming from the vat as it was incinerated. Then her eyes widened as a shockwave blew through the warehouse, blasting apart the walls and her body was thrown back.

She felt herself land on concrete and rolling before her back eventually hit a wall. She groaned and swivelled her ears around, she could hear the burning of fire and people shouting and running.

She opened her eyes and dragged herself up, she was in the street, the warehouse burning in front of her. Grunts were running round calling to each other as they looked through the wreckage. In the distance she could hear the sound of sirens.

She felt her body and found no injuries, none of her knifes were broken and her Katana was still on her back. She sighed as she looked at the wreckage, unsure what to do now.

Then she gave a cry as from the wreckage one of the Grimm launched forward and bit down on a man's neck. The other grunts fired at it but the shots did not seem to affect it as it stumbled on and ran at another grunt.

Blake watched as the grunt it had bitten spasmed and contorted. Black tumours grew on his skin, swelling and some even bursting and producing more black liquid. Then the tumours grew over the clothes and his whole body was turned black, similar to shadows.

He had stopped spasming by this point and simply twitched occasionally. Then he shot up, his body black and covered in white bony protrusions. What stood out were his red glowing eyes.

The Grimm ran forward and sliced a grunts chest with its claws, then gave a screech as it bit down in the man's face, tearing it off as the man's body fell to the ground, twitching and shaking as it mutated.

Blake was snapped from her watching as she heard steps running up to her and she turned to see one of the Grimm was running up to her. She reached behind her and got into a ready position, as it opened its mouth, its teeth shining bright as they reflected the flames, she unsheathed her katana and swiped at the Grimm's head.

It's body fell to the floor, It momentum causing the head to roll and bump against her boot.

She took a few steps back. Then heard screaming from other parts of the city and realised that the fang had already released the liquid into the sewers, it was already spreading over the city.

She turned and ran into the dark alley.

 ** _~§~_**

 ** _This just came to me as a story_**

 ** _More soon. Follow and favourite if you want to see more_**

 ** _See ya_**


	3. 17 days later

_**IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT LAST CHAPTER**_

 _ **Last chapter I accidentally- in my excitement to write- wrote that Blake still had her cloning ability. I just got caught up in writing the story the character don't have their semblance's in this story.**_

 _ **~§~**_

Ruby took a deep breath as she steadied the scope. Her childhood had been spent at the shooting range, it was one of her favourite pastimes. She centred the scope onto a Grimm's head and pulled the trigger. The sound echoed out and made it hard to locate her in the church tower, the Grimm's head sending up a spurt of black blood as it collapse to the ground and began to dissolve.

The other Grimm stumbled round and looked about as they looked for the source of the noise.

"How many is that now Rubes?" Asked Yang over the radio set next to her.

"Twenty three" Said Ruby proudly as she stood up and stretched.

"That's enough for today then, soups ready and we need to conserve our ammo" Said Yang

Considering the world had come to a collapse she was actually coping quite well. That was what she told herself. Yang had been a comforting presence to have, even if she was acting strangely.

She walked to the stairs and descended down the corkscrew, entering the main building of the church.

Over the last seventeen days Yang had gone out a few times and brought in items to make it into a proper base of sorts. The alter now had a white board with two written columns with notes in it.

What we know:

Attracted to noise

Can see, not very well

Can't climb, Can lunge

Strong and slow

Crawlers fast

Don't eat, only one bite

One bite turns you

Headshot = death

Called 'Grimm'

What we don't:

Where did they come from?

Do they care about animals?

What is purpose?

Curable?

Hivemind or communication?

Another factor in attraction?

Next to the board was a stool and a radio receiver that Yang had found in a destroyed military outpost a few blocks away. Occasionally it would pick up messages of other survivors and even more rare were broadcasts from Atlas, which had gone into a state of martial law and had started an all out war against the Grimm.

Several pews had been put together with blankets in them to make makeshift beds that they took turns in. Yang talked about their goal being to escape the metropolis, but they would need many supplies to do so.

Yang said they could cover ten to fifteen miles a day, further if none of the Grimm were in their path. The problem was that Vale was a metropolis and very, very big. Usually just to make it from one side to another you needed to take a cruiser and even then it took an hour by flight to cross the large city.

Yang turned to look at her from the can of soup she was eating.

"You did a great job on this rifle Yang" Said Ruby as she set the rifle down on one of the pews.

"Awesome, glad I haven't lost my skills" Said Yang, ruffling her hair as she sat down and grabbed the other can of food.

"I miss moms cooking" lamented Ruby sadly as she looked at the pale brown liquid in the can, then winced when she realised what she just said. Yang didn't react well to her talking about mom.

"Yeah" said Yang, not looking at her as she focused in the can in front of her, her smile falling.

They ate in silence for a while, Yang clearly thinking about something until she threw the can across the church. It flew away and clattered against the stone wall and bouncing in the floor. Ruby tried to make herself look as small as possible as Yang stared after the can.

"You'll be alright while I'm out?" Asked Yang as is nothing had happened, stretching and beginning to gather things together.

"Y-Yeah" nodded Ruby, her eyes wide in fear

"Okay" nodded Yang as she picked up an empty duffel bag and slipped it onto her shoulder, her baseball bat on her back and the shotgun in a compact form inside a holster on her hip. She walked over to Ruby and kissed her on the forehead "see ya soon sis" she said as she pulled her yellow bandanna over her mouth and put her sunglasses over her eyes.

"See you soon" Said Ruby sadly as she watched Yang walk up to the roof.

And Ruby found herself alone in the church, cold and hungry. And now that her sister wasn't there to keep an eye on her she let the tears she held back whenever Yang was around fall.

~§~

Weiss sneaked down the street. She had been in Vale for seventeen days now by her count, having woken up in the wreckage of the cruiser. She had managed to get out but found herself in unfamiliar territory.

She had been traversing the city, looking for something, anything she could use to get out. At this point she would be happy to see another person.

She glanced around and upon seeing that none of the freaks- as she called them- were about, removed the surgical mask from her mouth and to her neck, breathing in cold air. She had discovered that the liquid in the sewers seemed to have a mind of its own and kept trying to get into her body, to counter that she had covered her mouth and nose under a surgical mask she had found in an abandoned ambulance.

She looked around again and opened up her bag, pulling out an almost empty bottle of water. She frowned at it and quickly swallowed the last few drops.

She heard footsteps shuffling behind her and quickly turned, throwing the bottle at the freak. The bottle simply bounced off harmlessly but Weiss didn't care as she pulled out Myrtenaster and quickly gave a jab forward. The freak's head was skewered on the end of the sword and it fell limp, she kicked it off with her boot and took a few steps back. She hastily pulled her mask back on as the body began to dissolve.

She heard more shuffling footsteps and looked up to see several of freaks crawling out of alleys and from under cars and she scrambled back as one lunged at her, smashing through a car window and setting off the cars alarm.

She began to back away as she saw even more of the freaks crawl from hidden crevices, soon a large pack of the freaks had formed and were shambling slowly in her direction. From the crowd crawled a freak on all fours that was faster then the shambles of the other freaks.

She turned and ran as she heard the crawler chase after her snarling and growling. She could feel her legs burning from the the lack of energy in her body, but she continued to run, her feet pounding against the concrete as she ran down the empty street and dodged around abandoned cars. She gasped as she saw a freak come into her path, it's mouth lolling open as it turned its red soulless eyes to her.

She quickly changed direction and entered an alley, running down the dark alley as she heard the crawler following her. A corner was coming up and she prepared to turn it and her foot caught on something and she fell, her head connected to the ground an-

~§~

Yang crept down the alley, she was nearing a convenience store, it was just down this alley and on the street to the right. She stopped when she heard running footsteps as her hand went to her baseball bat.

She had only seen the crawlers move fast but whatever was running down the alley had two feet, she could hear a snarling and growling along with the quick litter patter of a crawler. She pulled out the baseball bat and waited as the footsteps got closer and closer.

Then a girl in white came round the corner and tripped, falling to the ground and bashing her head. She lay unmoving as the crawler got closer and closer and Yang moved forward. The crawler came round the corner and she swung her baseball bat, smashing it directly in its face and sending it flying back.

It scrabbled about and got back up, giving a little screech as it ran directly at Yang. Yang readied her baseball bat only to see that it was broken in half and was now useless. Her eyes widened as she went for her gun, knowing she wouldn't make it.

Suddenly just as the crawler lunged at her there was the swish of a bald and the crawler fell to the ground, it's head rolling away from its body. Yang looked at it in shock before looking at her saviour to see a girl dressed in black and covered in knives, two cat ears on top of her head and a gas mask covering her nose and mouth.

Yang found herself entranced by the piercing amber eyes that stared at her.

"Thanks" she finally croaked out

The girl nodded and sheathed her katana before disappearing into the shadows of the alley.

"Wait! What's your name?" Called Yang, but she received no answer. She looked down at the unconscious girl on the floor.

"The fuck am I supposed to do with you?"

~§~

Weiss groaned as she felt pain in her head and she felt déjà vu from the cruiser crash. She felt not the concrete of the ally but instead she was lying on something made of wood. Thoughts of the ally made her sit up quickly, her hand going to Myrtenaster but finding nothing.

"Your awake" said a high pitch voice beside her.

She turned quickly to see a girl, at least fourteen or fifteen years of age, she had silver eyes and red tipped black hair.

"Hey, it's okay. Your safe" assured the girl quickly holding her hands up placatingly.

"Where is my weapon?" She demanded of the small girl.

The girl flinched under her harsh voice "Yang took it away, and I'm not supposed to let you out of my sight" said the girl

Weiss didn't know who Yang was but she scoffed "like you can stop me"

"She can't" agreed a voice behind her "but I can"

Weiss turned to see a girl her age wearing denim overalls and a layered shirt, blonde hair falling down her back with lilac eyes that were watching her carefully. In her hands was Myrtenaster which she was fingering delicately.

"I'm not scared of you" lied Weiss frowning at the girl who could clearly beat her in a fight.

"Good, cause we're not scared by you. So let's drop the hostility" said the girl-Yang she presumed- calmly as she placed Myrtenaster delicately on a table and turned, she turned back with a hot bowl of soup in her hands which she held out with raised eyebrows.

Weiss narrowed her eyes suspiciously but couldn't deny her hunger that was trying to take control. Eventually the hunger won and she carefully took it, after one careful spoonful of the soup she began to demolish it ravenously.

"See? We don't want to hurt you, so you don't hurt us?" Said Yang pointing between them "I'm Yang and that's Ruby. What's your name?"

"Weiss" she said quickly causing Yang to raise her eyebrows.

"Weiss? Well Ruby, may I introduce you to Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee dust company" said Yang

Weiss again narrowed her eyes at Yang suspiciously, she knew she was a well known figure but with the world going to shit she wouldn't put it last people to enact 'revenge' against her.

"Relax, relax" waved off Yang "I ain't gonna try nothin'" she said "ain't like there's a Schnee dust company left"

"What?" Asked Weiss shocked as she went paler.

"We get the occasional Atlas broadcast on that radio over there" said Yang idly waving a hand at the radio set and Weiss finally took in the church they were in. "Atlas is in a state of martial law and the Schnee mansion was completely overrun" said Yang "and then the Schnee family was reported missing. But here you are in Vale" said Yang curious.

"What about the other kingdoms?" Asked Weiss trying to divert the conversation.

"Vacuo is gone, wiped, completely destroyed" said Yang quickly and having a lot fun describing a major metropolis being wiped out "and Mistral is in the same state as here"

Weiss felt her breathing picking up as she rubbed her arms "the whole world is fucked" she muttered

"No" waved off Yang before she trailed off and bobbed her head from side to side "Well yeah but Atlas is alright. Personally we're setting our sights on Patch" Said Yang "radio says it's a safe haven. Turns out that the liquid state of the Grimm doesn't like salt water"

"Grimm?"

"That's what Atlas calls them" said Ruby as she cleaned a disassembled rifle next to her.

"Do you even know how to use that?" Asked Weiss demeaningly

"Yup" Said Ruby smiling happily "I have 23 confirmed kills with my Rose" she said patting it affectionately.

Weiss decided not to question the girl further, from what she could tell both girls were not in the best states of mind and that was only after talking to them for five minutes.

"So you've just been hiding out in this church for the last 17 days?" Asked Weiss as she looked around.

"Yeah, our eventual plan is to start heading toward the docks. Problem is that will require supplies and me and Ruby don't know this city, admittedly we can pick supplies and a map or something on the way. Problem is with all the Grimm crawling around we won't be getting far" said Yang.

"Why are you telling me this? Why did you help me?" Asked Weiss

"Cause who the fuck are you gonna tell? Where are you gonna go? We helped you because we aren't dicks" Said Yang "like, you don't have to stay with us but I want to point out that you don't have anywhere to go"

Weiss chose to stay silent and eat the soup at the correct point.

~§~

Blake had been watching the church for several minutes, but when nothing happened she decided that it was pointless, the darkening sky telling her she should get back to her hideout soon. She turned and ran towards the buildings edge. Jumping upon reaching it and running over the next roof, she did this for several miles, hopping and traversing rooftops as she got closer to the building that stood taller amongst the rest.

Blake landed on a roof and climbed up the collapsed radio tower, thinking back fondly to her childhood when she would climb trees and balance on railings growing up. She finished climbing and pulled herself onto the roof walking across the roof of the destroyed Schnee building. It's roof mostly being caved in due to the bullhead crashed on its roof that she had been using as a home for the past 13 days.

She carefully walked over a steel beam and climbed up the side of the crashed bullhead, then she froze as she heard voices.

"See, this place is awesome! It's even got supplies and everything!" Said an excited male voice

"Yeah, this is awesome" Said another calmer male voice.

Blake slowly climbed in and moved through the shadows, peeking round the cockpits entrance to see two men going through the supplies she had gathered over several days.

"Dude! Bottled water!" Said one with sandy blonde hair and a swishing monkey tale.

"It's weird that a few days ago I'd think you'd be crazy to get that excited over bottled water" laughed the one with blue hair.

Hey both laughed as the blonde one went to open the bottle. Blake chose that exact moment to act, dashing forward and drawing her katana and placing it seamlessly at the blond ones neck.

"Who are you?" She asked as she held the katana to the man's neck.

"Woah Woah Woah Woah!" Said the blonde one quickly "we're friendly!" he said holding his hands up placatingly

"Yeah, we didn't know this place was already taken" Said the blue haired one staring wide eyed in fear.

"Names" pressed Blake, putting her katana slightly closer to the blond ones neck.

"Sun!" Shouted the blond one "Sun Wukong, pleasure to meet you!"

"Neptune Versailles" Said the blue haired one

"Alright, why are you here?" She asked

"We just saw it! We thought we could get supplies!" Said Sun quickly

"Are there more of you?" She asked

"No! It's just us" Said Neptune

Blake thought, the two had so far been honest as much as she could tell and they both didn't look like threats. She lowered her katana and backed away several steps, keeping her katana ready as she kept her other hand close to her pistol.

"Sheesh lady" said Sun, rubbing his neck as he turned "was that really neces-" he trailed off as he stared at her.

"What?" She asked, scared he might know her identity.

"Ugh… nothing!" He said quickly grinning awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head "I'm fine"

"Alright then. Well you two can go now" she said, pointing at the exit with her katana.

Both their eyes widened "we dot have any supplies!" Protested Neptune

"We don't even have weapons!" Said Sun "we've only survived this long by running!"

Blake felt her self soften at that bit of information, ironically similar to her own situation. They didn't seem inherently bad, and she would admit that she missed at least some company even if she was an introverted person.

"Alright" she groaned as she took off her gas mask "you can stay. But you are gone tomorrow, got it?" She said pointing her katana loosely at them.

"But where should we go?" Asked Neptune distressed

Blake smiled, an idea coming to her.

"I actually know the perfect place"

~§~

Jaune buckled under the weight being put on his shield. The chomper on the other side snarling as it tried to reach around it. He winced and closed his eyes as the pressure increased.

"Not like this" he muttered "please, whoever's up there, not like this"

The creature gave a loud chomp of its teeth then froze, its head jerking, before it slumped down and slid to the floor. Behind it stood a girl with red hair and green eyes, her mouth and nose covered by a red bandanna and over her clothes seemed to be some sort of armour.

"Are you bitten?" Asked the girl, her eyes flashing dangerously as she held the spear up and pointed at his face.

"No no no no!" He cried out scrambling away, shield forgotten "I'm clean! I'm clean!" He said holding up his hands.

The girl lowered her spear and pulled down her bandanna, an apologetic smile on her face "I'm sorry" she said apologetically "just can't be too careful these days"

Jaune continued to breathe heavily but slowly nodded, he swore he recognised her vaguely.

"Are you injured?" Asked the girl

"No, no I'm fine" he said flashing a reassuring smile

"Alright then, my name's Pyrrha" said Pyrrha holding out a hand

"Jaune" replied Jaune taking the had and Pyrrha pulling him up.

"It's nice to meet you Jaune, now we must move quickly" said Pyrrha as she looked around at the abandoned mall "the creatures are attracted to noise"

"Yeah, found that out the hard way" Said Jaune rubbing the back of his head.

"Come, they're not great climbers" said Pyrrha as she walked away, Jaune picking up the shield and quickly following after her. They quickly walked through the mall and ascended the still running escalators, going up several floors with Pyrrha easily taking out any chompers that got in their way.

They made a stop in a camping shop and took sleeping bags and a tarp along with some other supplies, Jaune was confused as to where they were going until they got to the roof access door.

Pyrrha tried to open the door and after finding it was locked brought her spear down upon the handle, a loud crack sounding out which was met with snarls and the shuffling of feet from all over the mall. They rushed out onto the roof and quickly shut the door, and after waiting for several minutes, determined that the noise had echoed too much for the creatures to locate.

"We should be safe up here" said Pyrrha as she began to place down all the camping equipment, Jaune following.

The sky began to darken and they set up a small camp fire, setting out their sleeping bags and Pyrrha produced two cans of food which she began to cook over the fire.

"So Jaune, are you from around this area?" Asked Pyrrha.

"Ugh, n-no" Said Jaune, surprised by the sudden conversation topic "I was here to attend Beacon"

"You were? So was I" said Pyrrha tilting her head "what were you taking?"

"Ugh… economics and science" Said Jaune "What about you?"

"Sports" Said Pyrrha smiling "I wonder if we would have met if we had gone?" She mused

"Hopefully it would be under better circumstances" Said Jaune and they both chuckled

"Yes, definitely under better circumstances" agreed Pyrrha

"Are you from here Pyrrha?" Asked Jaune

Pyrrha looked surprised before she put on an eager smile "I'm from Mistral, I got into Beacon for my accomplishments"

"Ah, Yeah… I got in the boring way" Said Jaune uneasily

"There is nothing wrong with that, you worked hard for it" encouraged Pyrrha

Jaune simply nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"So, what was your plan?" Asked Pyrrha

"I just wanted to make my family proud with something, anything" he lamented.

Pyrrha shook her head "no, I mean now?"

"Oh" Jaune scratched his head "I didn't really have one, just survive" he shrugged

Pyrrha nodded "that's been my plan mostly. Though I would like to get out of Vale, but I guess Mistral is like here" Said Pyrrha, giving a quick wipe at her eyes "Sorry"

"No no! It's fine, I've cried a fair bit too" admitted Jaune "I have seven sisters, three of them are younger" he gave a sniffle "I don't know what happened to them"

Pyrrha gave a sympathetic smile "I never had any siblings, so I don't know how horrible that must feel" she said

They sat in silence as the fire burned and the sky turned darker around them.

"So… are we going to stick together?" Asked Jaune, voicing the question he was thinking for a while

"I see no reason not too, we'd have safety in number" Said Pyrrha "I was planning on heading to the docks, or somewhere with transportation" Said Pyrrha

"I can get behind that" nodded Jaune

"Partners?" Asked Pyrrha, holding out her hand

Jaune smiled and took it "partners" he said.

~§~

Ren sighed as he sliced a walkers neck cleanly, the body falling to the floor and beginning to dissolve. He looked around and saw Nora grinning as she slammed her sledgehammer into a walkers head repeatedly, the head now jut a mushy black pile as the rest of the body dissolved.

"Nora" he chided

Nora's manic grin disappeared and she stopped mid swing, looking at him in curiosity.

"I think it's dead" Said Ren, smiling slightly

"Ya never know!" She said, giving one final slam before cheerily skipping over to him.

Ren simply gave a chuckled as he shook his head. "What am I going to do with you?" He asked as Nora stood next to him, her body wriggling in excitement.

"Make me pancakes?" She asked innocently

"Hmm, I don't think that's likely" Said Ren "But I'll see what I can do" he added at her quivering pout.

"Okay!" She said happily before she focused on a walker shuffling toward them and bounced away toward it.

Ren sighed as he watched her. The night when the walkers had attacked had changed her. She had always been energetic when they had grown up, it was something he had grown to love about her.

But then after that night, she had been different. Eager, naïve, childlike but also incredibly violent toward the walkers. He had always suspected she might have had some sort of mental problems, but they had always been able to manage her outbursts.

Now however, she was in a permanent outburst. He still loved her and had adapted quickly, but now Nora was dependant on him. Without him she'd likely go fully psycho.

He was dragged form his thoughts by a wet smack and watched as the walker fell to the ground, its head half caved in as Nora watched it, bouncing on her tip toes. Then without warning she slammed the sledgehammer onto the creature's head, once, twice, three times. She paused, like an artist examining their work before again slamming the sledgehammer onto the creature's skull.

He watched on, unflinching to the violence.

"Nora" he said

Nora stopped slamming her sledgehammer and skipped and over to him.

"What am I going to do with you?" He whispered to himself as Nora tilted her head.

Then she reached up and pressed a finger to his nose "boop" she said before giggling and twirling away, humming a song to herself as she twirled on the spot and looked up at the afternoon sky.

Ren sighed as he looked around the park they were walking through, they were at the base of a large oak tree and the sky was beginning to darken.

"Nora? Remember that time we climbed that tree?" Asked Ren.

Nora stopped her spinning and turned to him nodding eagerly "Yeah! That was super fun!" Said Nora "we ran around, we played with water pistols, we ran around, we ate ice cream, we ran around-"

"I remember you asking if we could stay out and sleep in the tree for the night?" Asked Ren

"Yeah! That would be awesome! I was so sad when my parents said no" Said Nora pouting.

"Nora" said Ren "I think we should sleep in this tree" Said Ren, nodding to the tree

Nora's eyes went wide and she grinned manically as she jumped up and down in excitement. "Yes! Yes yes yes!" She said clapping her hands.

"Do you remember how to-" Ren was interrupted as Nora launched at the tree and climbing up easily.

"Beat you!" She said happily, throwing up her arms

Ren chuckled and began to climb as well "I didn't realise we were racing"

"That's how they get ya" Said Nora, giving him a kiss on the nose when he got close enough. Ren rolled his eyes and got into the branch next to her.

The park was silent as they sat in the branches, the only sound the rustling of leaves as wind blew through the park. Ren felt a hand wrap around his and he smiled as he watched the sun set, giving the hand a squeeze. Eventually he shifted so his back was against the trunk of the oak, Nora nestled in his lap as he pulled out a blanket from the bag he had hung on a branch next to them.

"Night Ren" sang Nora

"Goodnight Nora" he said, giving her hair a kiss.

He looked up to the sky and closed his eyes, listening to Nora's breathing as he felt sleep pull him away.

~§~

The black quagmire that had once been the facility that housed her bubbled as Salem rose from the black liquid. She no longer walked on two legs, instead everything below her abdomen was replaced with a long black snake like body that was made of the liquid.

She moved toward the land and stopped several feet away from the shore. A Grimm crawled out of the ooze and stared at her with its soulless red eyes. She gave a wave of her hand and the creature contorted, its back and limbs snapping as it fell to the floor. After several seconds it stopped convulsing and stared up at her in its four legged position.

"Good" She Said "But could be better"

More Grimm crawled out of the quagmire and shambled up to the crawler, when they reached it they began to dog pile it. Their skins bulged and rippled as they joined together, the mass now growing in size as more Grimm walked up to it.

Eventually the mass grew two arms and two legs and the transformations was complete. Before her stood a creature that was clearly an imitation of a wolf. It's flaw being that the skin was not smooth as it bulged and the occasional eye or claw sprouted form odd places. It looked terrifying, it looked like an improvement.

"Much better" she said as she lowered herself and stroked the creatures black jaw "are you ready to cause some fear?" She asked with a malicious smile.

 ** _~§~_**

 ** _Sorry this took so long. Just a lot of shit going down and a lack of motivation to write._**

 ** _But I had a fuck ton of fun writing Nora and Ren though, I don't know how long this story will actually be though._**

 ** _See ya!_**


	4. Grimm encounters

The tree hadn't been the most comfortable thing he had slept in, Ren had to admit. His back still ached as they trekked through the park, Nora seemed to not have any problem as she happily skipped forward and looked around at the beautiful surroundings.

They were approaching the hedge wall that separated the park from the city and they started following along it until they reached an exit. The streets were not as safe as the park, several walkers stood idle as if waiting for some sort of cue. Staring off at nothing and vaguely swaying as the breeze blew down the street.

Nora skipped forward, her footsteps loud as she idly swung the heavy sledgehammer in one hand. The walkers reacted to the noise and snarled or opened their mouths, beginning to advance. Nora stopped and watched as one idly shuffled toward her before she suddenly swung and struck the walker in the head, the body slumped to the ground and she skipped onto the next one.

Ren sighed before drawing the machete he had taken from a camping store and quickly advanced on a walker that was shuffling up behind Nora. He swiped and the machete made it half way through its head before stopping, he tugged and ripped the blade free as the walker fell to the floor.

He looked up and saw that Nora had gotten a distance away.

"Nora!" He called and the girl stopped her advance on her prey and quickly trotted back to him, grinning manically "we need supplies" he said nodding toward the large mall across the street.

Nora grinned and skipped away, Ren following as she entered the mall. It was large and multi storied, like a ravine as rows upon rows of shops rose up above them. They walked along, looking at each shop and looking for any that might have food in them. When they didn't find any they advanced to the next tier.

Eventually they came across a convenience store, but Ren stopped Nora form walking in by placing a hand on her shoulder. When she looked at him, head tilted in confusion he nodded toward the dissolving corpse of a walker.

"People" he whispered when Nora still seemed confused. She frowned and backed away slightly, getting behind him. He squeezed her hand reassuringly before drawing his machete and advancing into the store.

"Hello? Is anybody there?" He called out as he looked a the aisles of the store, unable to see anyone.

There were hushed voices and some rustling. "We don't want any trouble" called out Ren "just supplies"

Suddenly from the aisle appeared a red haired girl with green eyes, she brandished a spear at them, her eyes hard. Ren put up his hands placatingly as Nora gripped the back of his shirt tighter, he unconsciously moved in front of her protectively.

"We don't want any trouble" he said "I'm sure there's enough food for all of us"

The woman looked at him but her eyes seemed to soften at the sight of Nora, nervously hiding behind him and she lowered her spear.

"There's some canned food and water this way" said the woman nodding with her head and walking back into the store.

Ren stood still for a few seconds before following after her, Nora staying resolutely behind him as he rounded the corner and saw the woman standing as she shoved some cans of food into a bag. A blonde man also stood placing water bottles into his bag.

The girl looked at them and held out a can of food, the blonde boy watching cautiously from the side. Ren cautiously approached and grabbed the can, both of them gripping it tensely as they stared at each other before the red head let go.

"My names Pyrrha" she introduced herself "this is Jaune"

"Hi" squeaked Jaune.

"Ren" he nodded "Nora" he indicated Nora who was now stood next to him as opposed to behind.

"It's nice to meet you" said Pyrrha, pulling down her bandanna and smiling at them.

"It's nice to meet someone else alive" said Nora eagerly "we've been walking for days and days and days and all we've encountered are the walkers, occasionally the crawlers, they're super scary-" rambled Nora

"Nora" chided Ren gently and Nora who stopped her rambling and grinned brightly.

"Well, that certainly sounds like an adventure" said Pyrrha smiling kindly at Nora.

"Hey, Pyrrha. Stocked up on water" said Jaune, indicating his full bag.

"Okay" nodded Pyrrha before turning back to the two "guess we might see each other around"

Ren simply nodded while Nora gave a timid little wave. The two walked out of the store and Nora stared after them for a while.

"Nora" said Ren softly when he saw her still looking after them.

Nora jumped and turned to him quickly, joining him in packing their bags full of water bottles and cans.

However in her haste she yanked a can off the shelf causing several to fly off the shelf and clatter to the ground loudly. Nora looked at them wide eyed while Ren looked around.

Then the door at the back of the store burst open to reveal a black wolf like creature, it's skin lumpy and mangled as it stared at them through a wolf skull mask. Ren didn't even think as he grabbed Nora's wrist and ran.

They burst from the shops door and he glanced around, he saw Pyrrha and Jaune some distance away looking at them confused and he ran at them.

"Run!" He called out and behind him he heard the smashing of glass, Jaune and Pyrrha's eyes widened and they began to run as well as Ren and Nora caught up and ran alongside them. They bolted along until they reached the escalator quickly descending the moving stairs.

The creature did a massive leap and smashed into a store window, thrashing about as it got tangled up, the group ran toward the entrance to the mall and ran through the door, entering the street and running down it.

Behind them they heard the glass door smash as the wolf burst onto the street. As they ran Ren heard a car engine drawing closer and closer as they neared the corner.

Then the wolf gave a leap and was on the road in front of them, growling in victory as the car engine grew louder.

~§~

Weiss wanted to say that she had struggled to sleep on the two pews shoved together with blankets as bedding, but she had to admit it was the most comfortable thing she and slept on in several days.

She had struggled to fall asleep for fear of having she throat cut in her sleep or many other horrible things happening to her. But her logical side told her that if the two sisters had wanted to kill her they wouldn't of saved her, or fed her.

The only time she was woken was when Ruby came down and woke up Yang for her turn on watch duty.

She in fact slept for so long that she was awoken when a rife shot cracked out, she shot up and grabbed Myrtenaster next to her. She looked around before seeing that Yang was looking up at the church tower in concern.

She grabbed a radio and turned it on

"What ya doing Rubes?" She asked.

"There are people out here, they were headed right towards us" she said back "I've just given them a warning shot"

"Alright, I'm coming out" Said Yang as she grabbed her shotgun and walked up to the large church door. Weiss, with nothing better to do, followed after her. If she was part of this little group she could at least pull her weight.

Yang had her shotgun aimed and ready at two boys, one with blonde hair and a monkey tail which made Weiss narrow her eyes in suspicion. The other had blue hair and was looking around scared as Grimm began to walk out of buildings.

Yang looked around then lowered her shotgun when she saw they didn't have any weapons.

"In" She said simply, gesturing with the shotgun

The two boys weren't complaining as they quickly scurried forward and into the church, Yang turning and staring in surprise at Weiss being there before nodding her head.

Back inside the church Ruby was pointing her rifle at the boys as they stood with their hands up.

"Okay" said Yang, lowering her weapon but still keeping it ready "what are your names?"

"Sun" Said the blonde

"Neptune" said the blue haired one, flashing a charming smile "Sup"

"Okay, you were coming right toward us" Said Yang, looking at Ruby who nodded "Why?"

"We're just looking for a place to be safe" Said Sun "we were pointed here by a Faunus girl. She gave us a message to give you!"

Yang frowned "What's the message?"

"Ugh" Sun smacked his head before looking up in remembrance "My name is Blake?"

Yang's eyebrows shot up before she gave a chuckle as she realised who it was "Alright, you two looking for a place to stay?"

They both nodded vigorously while Weiss looked at her incredulous.

"Well you better be ready to pull your weight" Said Yang crossing her arms

"You can't be serious!" Said Weiss in shock

"Why not, always useful to have extra hands when gathering supplies" shrugged Yang

"Yes, but we can't just take random riffraff off the streets!" She exclaimed

"Hey" said both boys simultaneously hurt

"Hey, we took you in didn't we?" Said Yang raising an eyebrow

Weiss opened her mouth and closed it repeatedly for several seconds before huffing and walking away.

"Don't mind her" waved off Yang "she doesn't trust anyone"

"Isn't that Weiss Schnee?" Asked Sun

"Yeah, I'm Yang" Said Yang holding out her arm and shaking both their hands and then gesturing to Ruby who was stood to the side awkwardly kicking her feet. "And that's my sister Ruby"

"Sorry for shooting at you" she said apologetically as she looked at the ground and kicked her feet back and forward.

"Hey" Said Sun grinning "no hard feelings"

Ruby looked up at him and smiled sheepishly.

"So, you guys good with any weapons?" Asked Yang

"I can use a staff" shrugged Sun

"I'm adept with a glaive" smiled Neptune.

"Hmm, gimme a second" said Yang as she went over to her bag and rooted through it, eventually pulling out a folded piece of paper. She unfolded it and looked over the map, covered in scribbles with certain buildings having crosses scribbled on them "There is a weapons museum nearby" she said a she rubbed her face "You two wanna do some shopping?"

"Now?" Asked Neptune, his voice less confident then before.

"Well yeah, still got a long time before sunset" shrugged Yang

"Sure! Sounds fun" grinned Sun

"Alright… can I trust you with guns? Or are you going to shoot me in the back?" Asked Yang, dead serious as she picked up two pistols and turned to them with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'm going to shoot you in the back as soon as we get out there, because then I'll have a gun and no supplies" said Sun sarcastically

Yang tilted her head, then smiled "I like your style" she said as she handed over the pistol "do you know how to use it?"

"Yeah" nodded Sun as he checked the gun over.

Neptune looked more unsure of himself "I've never shot a gun before" he said as he held the gun like it was going to bite him.

"Then don't shoot it, just keep it as a just in case weapon" Said Yang

"Wait, why are we going to pick up melee weapons? You look like you've got plenty of guns" Said Sun confused

"The Grimm are attracted to noise" said Ruby "it's why they came out when I shot at you"

"So your just going?" Asked Weiss "with these two who you don't know?"

"Yes, technically I don't know you. Yet I'm leaving you with my baby sister" said Yang as she looked at her.

"Yang!" Protested Ruby at the term

"How do you know I won't do anything?" Asked Weiss

"Because if you do, I will hunt you down and kill you myself" said Yang, all amusement form her face gone as it took on a dark expression, her voice low and deadly serious. "Got it?"

Weiss stared wide eyed and nodded meekly.

"Good" Said Yang, the expression leaving as soon as it had appeared "see you in a few hours" she said as she grabbed a shotgun and pulled on her bandanna and sunglasses.

Sun and Neptune looked at each other then Weiss nervously, before quickly following after her as she held the door open, when they were through the door swung shut.

"Sorry about Yang" said Ruby concerned "I think it's all affecting her far more then she wants to admit"

Weiss looked at her and saw the fear on her face, was this what it was like for Winter to comfort her when Father had had a bad day and another angry outburst at dinner? Thoughts of her sister made Weiss quickly wipe her eyes, the thought that her sister was at least safe in Atlas the only comfort in the cold empty church.

~§~

Yang knew that sudden mood changes was unusual for her, she knew fundamentally that something was wrong with herself. It had come from nowhere, all her outbursts were like she were watching through the eyes of somebody else.

"So… are we gonna go or?..." Asked Neptune uncertain

Yang wordlessly nodded and started down the street, her shotgun ready as a few Grimm that had stuck around since Ruby's rifle shot turned and began shambling forward. When one neared her she swung the butt of the shotgun in its face causing it to stumble back, she kicked its legs and it fell over. She quickly walked up and stamped on its head.

A rifle shot rang and she turned to see a Grimm fall to the ground, it's head partially exploded. She flashed a thumbs up to the church tower before quickly beginning to run down the street.

"Come on" She said, the other two quickly following even as they marvelled at the amount of accurate shots. They quickly ran down several streets, weaving through Grimm until eventually they made it to an empty street and caught their breaths.

"Alright" breathed Yang as she unfolded the map "we are…" she quickly traced the route they had taken "not far form it now, about halfway there" she said as she folded it into her pocket then looking at the other two and seeing their ill prepared clothing. "But first, let's get you something to cover your mouths"

They broke into a clothing store and after much deliberation Sun wore a white bandanna that wrapped around his mouth and neck, Neptune wore a blue bandanna and orange tinted sunglasses.

They set out and began walking through the abandoned streets, cars and other debris making traversing each street an obstacle course. Occasionally a Grimm would appear and try to get them but Yang would quickly take care of it. Eventually they made it to a large building with a large car park that was mostly devoid of cars, a red truck being its only occupant.

Over the entrance to the building were the words 'The Vale museum of Weapons through history' in grand letters. They made it across the car park quick and inspected the door, Yang giving it a tug and huffing when she discovered it was locked.

"They probably have security of some sort" Said Sun as they took a few steps back.

"Yeah, like alarms and invisible lasers" Said Neptune

"I saw a documentary and in it the alarms of the museum were designed to only go off at the police station so the burglars would stick around thinking they'd gotten away with it" said Yang, then she smashed the door with the shotgun.

"Nice" complemented Neptune

"Come on, we don't know what might be around, so we want to do this quick" Said Yang as she entered first, the motion activated lights flashing on causing Yang to frown as she stared at them for several seconds.

"Hey, should we split up?" Asked Sun

"No" said Yang, looking away from the lights "we'll sweep the building till we have what we need, but first we need to find the security room" she said as she took the lead.

The buildings lights came on as they entered each room and off when they left, the display cases also lighting up as weapons form various time periods decorated walls and cases. Old rusted swords that were black with age alongside modern day swords that shone bright.

Eventually she found a door tucked away between two halls marked 'staff use only' and after a quick check busted it open. The staff halls were worse she decided, they were narrow with many doors leading off.

It took a few tries but eventually they found the security room, the wall of monitors still running and the low hum of machinery filling the room.

"So why are we here? Surly we set off security already by entering" said Neptune

"Yes, I'm sure we did. However what we need to do is break into glass cases filled with antiques" she tapped away at one monitor for several minutes "they have security doors that shut when the glass is broken, see one of them has activated already, some dude who probably tried to get weapons and ended up trapped" she said pointing to a room colored red on a floor layout of the first floor.

She typed away and eventually the room was no longer red "I opened them, maybe he's still alive" shrugged Yang "probably not though!" she said cheerily as she stood and turned to them "but now we can steal whatever the fuck we want, let's go"

As they left he room they failed to notice the blip that appeared on the map from the blocked off room.

Yang was wishing they had simply read a map when she began to realize how big the building was, the halls seemingly endless weapons passed them by. Yang gave a cheer when they finally made it to a hall with glaives in it.

"Alright dude, take your fucking pick" said Yang making a grand sweeping gesture.

Neptune walked up to the wall and looked over each individual glaive carefully, Yang looked around the hall and saw on the opposite wall a wall filled with staffs.

"Hey look, staffs as well" she said to Sun "I guess staffs and glaives are just the same things" she said amused.

"Hey, don't diss my craft" said Sun as he walked over to the wall.

Yang chuckled before looking around the hall herself, walking along it and looking at various cases and other stuff.

"Hey, while were here Yang, shouldn't you get something?" Asked Sun looking at her

"Well I'm not really trained in any weapons, I'm more of a boxer, won a few championships" shrugged Yang.

"I'm sure there's some sort of gauntlet weapon" said Sun as he looked at a red staff with gold metal adorning it and each end tipped with dragons.

"Hey! This is the one!" Said Neptune as he stood before a gray glaive, the blade at the tip a blue in color.

"Okay" said Yang and without warning she rammed her shotgun into the case, the glass smashing and falling to the floor. Both Sun and Neptune stared wide eyed at Yang and around them, as if expecting metal doors to slam down.

Yang reached forward and picked up the glaive, she put her finger to the blade and ran her finger along it frowned when no blood was produced.

"It's not sharp" she said quietly "pretty sure these places sell sharpening kits in their gift shops" she explained as she tossed it to Neptune who easily caught it and did a few practice moves, spinning it in a blur around himself and nodding in satisfaction.

"Yeah, this is the one for me" nodded Sun and following Yang's example he smashed the glass, waiting as the glass fell before picking up the red and gold staff and giving it a twirl.

"Alright, well let's get out of here" said Yang as she walked back to the entrance they had walked through, the other two following her as they began to make their way back through the maze of hallways.

They were walking down a hallway, various maces on display around them when Yang stopped and looked at a glass case displaying various ancient fighting gloves used over history. At the 'present' end was a pair of black gauntlets, it was plated with grips the hand could slide into and hold. The plates were clearly designed to slide over each other and were covered in sharp spikes.

In her haste to find the staffs and glaives she had written them off as armour gauntlets. Without warning she smashed the glass and picked them up, the two boys jumping and turning to her in surprise.

She placed down her shot gun and picked up the gauntlets slipping them on, flexing her hand and finding it satisfying when the plates slid smoothly over her skin. She picked up her shotgun and was satisfied to find that they didn't interfere with holding the gun.

"Can you please warn us before you do that" said Neptune exasperated.

"Eh, keeps you on your toes" shrugged Yang as she continued forward.

They were now retracing their steps, the lights flicking on and off when they entered and exited the halls. It was when they were coming across a corner when Yang made the other two stop. They looked at her confused before they heard it.

Clack

Clack

Clack

The sound of claws on marble, like a dog but heavier, sharper. They looked around then jumped in surprise when the lights in the next hall turned on and the claws became louder and louder.

Then it rounded the corner. It was like the Grimm but bigger and in a wolf form, its body a mangled mass of Grimm with the occasional claw or eye sticking out from the skin as it looked at them through an angular wolf skull mask.

"What the fuck is that?" Whispered Neptune

The creature growled and turned towards them, licking its lips. The with a roar it charged forward.

Yang pulled up her shotgun and fired off a shot, the creature shrugging it off. She fired again as the creature advanced toward her, she fired again as the creature continued forward.

Just as it was right upon her, it's jaw open as it prepared to bite her she felt someone tug her aside and they tumbled to the floor as the creature tried to stop and slid forward on the marble for several meters.

"Fucking run!" Said Sun, dragging Yang up and pulling her along as he began to run down the hall where the creature had come from.

Yang tugged her hand out of his grip and ran along side him, turning round to watch the creature slide into a glass case, smashing it. It picked itself up and shook its head before bounding after them.

"We're not gonna make it!" She yelled

Neptune frowned and then as they passed a window he smashed it open "through here!" He called as he jumped through.

Yang and Sun quickly followed, Yang watching as the creature slid passed them as it tried to stop on the smooth marble floor. Vaulting through the window Yang felt herself falling before she fell into a bush, she quickly thrashed around, her skin becoming covered in cuts as she pulled herself from the bush.

She stood and panted as she caught her breath, Sun and Neptune joining her.

"Good thinking dude" said Sun holding out a fist

"It was no bigg-" Neptune was interrupted as something heavy landed in the bush and began to thrash about.

"Get to that truck!" Shifted Yang as she ran toward the only vehicle in the car park, a red truck. She opened the door and climbed in, quickly looking around for a possible key. Opening the sun visor she caught the keys as they fell out. She quickly jammed them in and the engine roared to life.

She quickly checked and saw that Sun and Neptune had jumped into the truck bed and had their weapons ready as the Wolf finally emerged from the bush.

She quickly put the truck into gear and slammed down the accelerator, the truck lurching forward and over the grassy verge that separated the car park from the road. She sharply turned and began to drive through the roads, driving through the slalom course of cars, occasionally catching one and causing the truck to jerk as the car was shoved out the way.

The Grimm were crawling out of their hiding places at the sound of the truck engine, they were knocked down under the trucks grill and wheels as she drove by. She glanced into the rear view mirror and saw that the wolf was still following them while Sun and Neptune gripped the side of the truck with death grips.

She was approaching a corner when she slammed the breaks as a wolf landed on the road, the trucks momentum not slowing down as she slammed into the second wolf . She saw several colourful objects and turned to see four people standing and staring in shock. She smashed the window and leaned out.

"Get on!" She called to them as in the rear view mirror she watched Sun and Neptune smash their weapons into the other wolfs face when it launched at the back of the truck.

The group didn't stop to contemplate the choice and simply ran over, Sun and Neptune quickly pulling them onboard. Yang started forward again and continued her slalom through the street as both wolf's began to chase them.

~§~

Ruby sighed as she laid her head on her arms and observed the city skyline from her sniper tower, she could see for miles over the city but after a while it did get boring. Occasionally a Grimm would meander into the street and she'd watch it shuffle about before it eventually shuffled away.

Then she perked her head up as she heard a distant noise, like a truck engine. She pulled Rose toward her and sat ready in a prone position as the engine got closer and closer.

Eventually a red truck careened round the corner, Yang in the drivers seat and on the back Sun and Neptune along with four others. Ruby however decided to stare in wonder at the two wolves that bounded after the truck.

Ruby shook herself and looked through her scope, taking a deep breath as she trained the scope onto the creature's red eye.

She squeezed the trigger.

The bang echoed around and caused the occupants of the truck to duck as the closest wolf's eye exploded in a gory display of fluid and its body crumpled to the floor. She ejected the bullet casing and took aim again at the second wolf.

The truck was now slowing as Yang parked it about half way down the street and cut the engine. Ruby breathed in and squeezed the trigger.

Another crack rang out and the occupants ducked as the wolf lunged at them, but Ruby's aim was slightly off as the bullet pinged off the creatures armoured skull. However the momentum was enough to make it hit the ground and roll forward a few items as the trucks occupants climbed out and Yang waved at them to follow her.

Ruby took aim again as the wolf got itself upright and fired, causing the wolf to crumple to the floor and its body begin to contort and mangle. She watched and saw that both corpses were twisting and unraveling and soon from the creature a normal Grimm pulled itself free.

The bodies began to unravel as Grimm broke off from it and began to shuffle toward the group that were by this pout safely at the church. Only two dissolving Grimm bodies lay on the ground, the ones where the wolves heads had been.

She picked up her rifle and quickly descended the stairs, looking down to see some sort of weird awkward staring contest was happening between Yang, Weiss, Sun and Neptune and the four strangers.

She finished descending the stairs and stood back awkwardly as the two groups stared at each other.

Yang was the one to finally step forward.

"Hello, I'm Yang, that's Weiss, Sun, Neptune and that's my sister Ruby" she pointed over at Ruby who awkwardly waved "she just saved all of us by the way" Ruby blushed under the praise and held the rifle closer.

"Well I'm Pyrrha, this is Jaune and they're" she looked at other two.

"I'm Ren, this is Nora" said Ren nodding at Nora.

"Thank you, for the save" said Pyrrha bowing her head at Yang and then at Ruby.

"Nah, it's no problem" waved off Yang "us survivors gotta stick together and help each other out ya know?"

"Yes, a group would likely have more success" agreed Pyrrha as Ren nodded.

"Okay then" nodded Yang "so I suppose we could all team up then?" She asked looking around at the others.

Ruby, Sun and Neptune nodded while Weiss looked unsure.

"Hmmm… I've got an idea!" Said Nora eagerly, not even flushing under all the sudden attention "why don't we sit around a campfire and talk about ourselves to each other?"

Ren sighed and rubbed her back "I don't think we can have a campfire in a church Nora" he pointed out.

"No" said Yang thinking "but we can do something else"

~§~

Blake sneaked along the road, on her right were apartments and to her left was a sloping muddy cliff that lead to the city below her. She was on one of the high points in Vale, the view letting her see some of Vale, the city too huge to be able to see all of it.

She eventually saw the overturned truck with its cargo spread out across the road, some having tumbled down the rocky cliff, its debris of water bottles and wooden planks a path of where crates had burst open and let loose their cargo.

Blake walked over pried open a crate next to an alley with her katana and smiled under her mask as she picked up a few bottles of water. She froze however when she heard a growl from the darkness next to her, none of the Grimm growled like that.

She turned to see two red eyes looking at her through an angular skull mask, its body was large and wolf like, but misshapen and the limbs contorted. It let out a growl and opened its mouth to reveal the red glow of its gullet.

She acted on instinct and smashed it in the face with the plank of wood she was still holding, the wood snapping in half upon contact and the creature didn't even flinch. She rolled backwards when it swiped at her and ran across the street towards the cliff edge, behind her she could hear the pounding footsteps of the wolf as it followed.

She reached the edge and vaulted over the metal rail, beginning to slide down the muddy cliff as her clothes became decorated with mud. She looked up and saw the creature was running down the cliff after her, she used her hand to change her direction and began sliding to the right. She was nearing the road but she could feel the wolf's bounding footsteps get closer and closer.

She braced her legs and jumped just as she was about to meet the metal rail, flying over the rail and performing a roll on the roof of an abandoned truck. She pulled out her pistol and turned to the cliff, only to duck as the wolf pounced at her. It sailed over her and she quickly fired off several shot, blood spurted up from its body, but didn't seem to care about the bullets as it growled at her.

Blake quickly ran down the length of the truck and jumped, grabbing onto a window sill and using that to hoist herself up. She made it to the roof after several seconds of quick climbing, the wolf also beginning to climb up the buildings side. She reached into a pocket and drew out a small ball of grey putty that had specks of glowing red crystals laced throughout it.

She got her gun ready and turned, the wolf was now pulling itself onto the roof. She tossed the ball at it, her throw landing as it rolled to a stop at the wolf's feet. It looked at the ball before looking up at her and growling in satisfaction at what it thought was an easy kill. Blake smirked under her mask and fired at the ball.

A small explosion erupted underneath the wolf, it barley had time to let out any noise of suprise before it was half incinerated and flung from the building. It fell to the street below and hit the ground with a wet crunch as its body began to contort.

Blake watched as from it's corpse emerged several normal Grimm, with many more lying on the floor and evaporating.

She grimaced and looked over her muddy black clothing, she still had all her equipment though. She sighed when she turned back to the muddy cliff and saw how far she had gone from her target. Frowning at the unsuccessful outcome of the mission she turned and began roof hopping back home.

She needed a can of tuna.

 ** _~§~_**

 ** _I want to establish some things in my remnant au_**

 ** _Remnant still has its weapon folding technology and fighting is still an integral part of remnant culture even though there have never been any Grimm up until this moment._**

 ** _Dust is present and is used like it is in the show, basically treated like any other element or fuel._**

 ** _Semblance's and aura don't exist but dust can still be utilised without it._**

 ** _Got super inspired to get this chapter up and written, next one probably won't be as soon but I hope you enjoyed it._**

 ** _See ya!_**


	5. The Rickety Flaming brigde of trust

Yang wen into the church's kitchen and turned on all the hobs on the oven, then after looking through each cupboard she found and managed to find four metal pans. She got to work turning in the electric cooker and cooking the soup as she looked some more and found several bowls, Ruby helping her.

Everyone else outside meanwhile rearrange church pews into a circle facing each other. Yang and Ruby eventually coming in and giving everyone a bowl of soup. And soon they were sat around facing each-other, sitting on pews eating soup.

Yang and Ruby sat next to each other with Weiss at the other end of the pew, Sun and Neptune sat next to each other on another pew. Jaune and Pyrrha sat opposite them on their own pew and Ren and Nora sat together on the final pew.

"So…" Said Yang after she had a spoonful of soup "I'm Yang, Yang Xiao Long" she looked at Ruby who shrunk slightly under all the attention.

"Ruby Rose" she said quietly, but loud enough to be heard.

"Weiss Schnee" Said Weiss looking and gauging everyone's reaction.

"Sun Wukong" Said Sun giving a little wave of his hand

"Neptune Versailles" Said Neptune giving a charming smile.

"Nora Valkyrie!" Said Nora grinning brightly at everyone

"Lie Ren, everyone calls me Ren" Said Ren calmly, a complete contrast to Nora.

"Pyrrha Nikos" Said Pyrrha giving a gentle smile

"Jaune Arc" Said Jaune awkwardly.

"Right, well" Said Yang as she looked round "I was in Vale because I was going to go to Beacon academy-"

Almost everyone else's heads perked up at that.

"What a weird coincidence" Said Pyrrha "because me and Jaune were also here to attend Beacon academy"

"So were I and Nora" said Ren

"I was going into Beacon" Said Weiss.

"Wow" Said Yang shocked and surprised "well, I was going to study engineering"

"Economics and business" said Weiss "to learn to be able to take over the company"

"I was going to do psychology" Said Ren, his eyes flicking to Nora who was eating the soup contentedly and swinging her legs idly.

"I was here to do sports" Said Pyrrha

"Economics and science" said Jaune quietly

"Me and Neptune were just here to have a look around, pretty cool place before the world got fucked" said Neptune

"You can say that again" nodded Yang.

"What even were those things?" Whispered Jaune.

"Grimm" Said Ruby then flushed under all the attention "I-its just that when they were killed they sort of… unraveled? Into a bunch of Grimm" she said sheepishly

"What are Grimm?" Asked Ren

"And is it a food? Cause it sounds tasty!" Said Nora excitedly

"Grimm is what Atlas calls the liquid and the… things out there" Said Yang, jabbing a thumb at the radio behind her before she turned to Ruby "and you killed them and saved us all. Stop selling yourself short"she said patting her in the shoulder.

Ruby simply nodded as she continued to eat, not really good with people or social interaction. Guns she understood, they were simple and did one defined thing and were predictable. People on the other hand were unpredictable and could be capable of anything.

"So, what are your plans?" Asked Ren

"What do you mean?" Asked Weiss suspicious

"What did you plan to do?" Asked Ren "we can't just hold out in this church forever"

"Well we were trying to find a way out" Said Pyrrha as Jaune nodded "we had hoped to get out of the city and maybe find somewhere safe"

Yang nodded slowly as Ruby looked at her, head tilted. Weiss looked at Yang unsure of what she was about to do.

"I have a plan" she finally said "it just had a lot of… factors"

All attention was on her now as she looked at them.

"Basically it involves finding transportation and leaving Vale" she said, setting her empty bowl aside "but not a car because that would attract too much noise, and definitely not a bullhead or something similar. I doubt anyone here knows how to fly and even then if there was a bullhead sitting around you'd think it would stay that way for long?" She rhetorically asked

"No, my plan involved getting to the Vale docks and getting a boat"

"But that's such a long journey!" Said Nora

"And surly the sea is completely contaminated" pointed out Ren

"And where would we even go?" Asked Pyrrha.

"Answering those in order" Said Yang "without any transportation it's gonna take a while, maybe a few weeks. Grimm doesn't like salt water, haven't tested it myself but it's what the radio said. And we have two possible locations we could go" she held up two fingers "one is Atlas, under martial law and likely not too kind to outsiders sailing up to their carefully controlled quarantine zone"

"But two is Patch, isolated and remote. It's effectively a safe zone and they'll actually let us in, granted after a very long and arduous quarantine process where many things we love may be burned or we may just be made to stay in the boat for a while" she shrugged "doesn't sound too bad to me"

The group slowly took in the plan and thought it over.

"Dude that plan sounds better than anything I came up with" said Sun encouragingly

"But it will be dangerous" said Pyrrha "the Grimm themselves are the main problem, but what about other survivors? We can't take too many even with our excess of supplies"

"I think we can cross that bridge when we get to it" Said Yang

"That's a terrible idea" Snapped Weiss "we should be prepared before we do anything!"

"We should also think about medical supplies" Said Ren

"So we're agreed that this is the plan then?" Asked Yang as she looked around "since we're all contributing parts"

"We just all trust each other?" Asked Jaune raising an eyebrow.

"Well, why should we want to fuck each other over?" Asked Sun looking round.

"We might kill each other for supplies" pointed out Pyrrha "not that I would, but I feel we still lack trust"

"Well we've only been talking about 15 minutes" shrugged Yang "maybe we should play some sort of trust game?"

"What, tell a fun fact?" Asked Weiss mockingly

"Well please, Miss Schnee. Tell us mere plebs what we could do stop killing each other in our sleep?" Asked Yang aggressively.

Weiss narrowed her eyes before turning away, scoffing.

"Yang" said Ruby, staring at her quietly.

Yang looked at her and her eyes softened and her fists unclenched as she took a deep breath. An awkward silence descended upon the group as the only noise was the sound of scraping bowls and spoons.

"I grew up in a town" said Jaune awkwardly, breaking the silence "I have seven sisters, they used to braid my hair and dress me up in dresses"

That drew out some chuckles and the tension in the room slipped away.

"I never had siblings" said Nora "but I've known Ren my whole life! We were practically raised together!" Ren nodded in agreement.

"I never had siblings, so I was often doted on by my parents" sighed Pyrrha "it's nice and all but…" she trailed off.

"Tell me about it" muttered Weiss.

"Don't you have a sister and a brother?" Asked Sun

"Winter ran to the Atlas military to escape our father, Whitley is simply a young version of my father as has taken along a lot of his characteristics, including the distance part" she sniffed "They… didn't survive the crash" she rubbed her eyes "I wasn't close to them but… it still hurts"

"I know how that feels" said Sun "my parents abandoned me to the streets of Vacuo"

"That must have been rough" said Yang

"It was at first, then I lost my moral compass and started stealing and boom!" He waved at himself with his hands and everyone chuckled, except Weiss who narrowed her eyes but remained silent.

"I hope you don't take this the wrong way" said Neptune awkwardly as he looked at Yang and Ruby "but you said your sisters right?"

"We don't look alike?" Asked Yang and Ruby at the same time, then they smiled at each other and high fived.

"You get that question a lot?" Asked Sun

"Oh yeah" nodded Yang

"All the time" agreed Ruby

"Basically we have the same father" said Yang

"He's great" Said Ruby

"We got different moms though" Said Yang though both girls visibly deflated at the mention of their parents.

They talked for a while longer as the sun descended outside, Yang turning on lights as they discussed plans for tomorrow. They decided on staying in groups of three, two groups could go out and get supplies and other needed material while three stayed behind and looked after the church. But the groups hadn't been decided upon yet and would likely change day by day.

After a lot more searching round they ended up having to share the culminated blankets, it was easier when Ren and Nora produced their own blanket and said they'd sleep together. It gave Yang an idea and she decided that she and Ruby could sleep in the same bed.

"Like when we were younger and we'd have sleep overs" she'd said as she tried to bring Ruby over to the idea.

"Huh! They were fun!" Ruby had said excitedly, her eyes wide.

"Yeah, they were weren't they?" Said Yang "and we can easily pick up some more blankets tomorrow"

Only Sun was left without a blanket, but he waved off offerings.

"I'm fine. I slept rough for years" he waved off with a bright grin.

But it still left the topic of who would take first watch and Yang decided that she would volunteer for first watch.

Pyrrha offered to take second watch and Sun volunteered for third as they agreed on three hour shifts.

Yang walked up to the top and immediately shivered because of the cold, but she was stubborn, and since she was already up here she decided she wouldn't go back down, the cold keeping her sharp.

The street lights still worked and lit the city up, obscuring the stars above because of the light pollution, a cold breeze blowing by and Yang shivered again. She rubbed her hands on her arms and watched her breath go up in a small cloud of condensation.

"Are you cold?" Asked a voice behind her and she whipped around, hand going for her gun but she stopped when she saw it was the faunus girl.

She stared in surprise and titled her head.

"Your Blake, right?" She asked

Blake nodded as her eyes looked Yang over "are you going to tell me yours?"

"Oh yeah, how rude of me" Said Yang, relaxing. She didn't know why she felt so at ease around this girl "names Yang" she said giving a little bow

"Yang" said Blake, as if testing how it sounded

"Blake is a very pretty name, I see that it also belongs to a very pretty girl" Said Yang giving a charming smile.

Blake's blush was obscured in the night time but she chucked as she tilted her head "we're in the middle of the apocalypse and I'm a faunus girl who saved you once and your trying to flirt with me?"

"Eh, I don't think much of that matters" shrugged Yang "unless you don't swing that way?"

Blake tilted her head again and gave a smirk "I could swing that way for you"

Now Yang was slightly surprised but quickly covered it "that's good then, now I can keep it up" she smiled before frowning "so what brings you to our neck of the woods?"

"You've seen the creatures right? The wolves?" Asked Blake.

"Yeah, nearly got killed by one. Rescued some people, got quite the little group going on right now" Said Yang nodding to the stairs.

"That's good, just wanted to make sure you were okay" Said Blake

"you could join if you want, always room for more" Said Yang hopefully

Blake paused and looked at Yang in surprise and curiosity "you barely know me, yet you invite me to join you?"

Yang shrugged as she looked out over the city "haven't done me wrong yet"

Blake bit her lip at the irony in that statement, this entire situation was entirely her fault, hers and the white fang's.

"I may join you at some point" she finally settled upon.

"Well, we're gonna be going out to the docks at some point, it'll be a long trek through Vale and we could always use extra hands to help get out of this hell" said Yang.

Blake tilted her head again "I'll think about it" she finally said.

They stood there for a while, both calmly watching the city. Yang shivered again and wrapped her arms around herself for warmth. Blake looked at her and then took off her purple scarf, walking up and wrapping her scarf around Yang.

Yang stiffened and Blake froze when she realized not only what she had done but also how close they were, so close she could just feel Yang's breath on her cheek and closed her eyes at the warmth, wanting to get closer. She drew back and took several steps away, surprised at how difficult she found it to do.

"I'll warn you if I find out any new developments" she said, then Yang watched as she fled into the night. Her hand coming up and touching the purple scarf wrapped around her neck, the scent of Blake still attached to it.

 ** _~§~_**

 ** _Sorry for this being both delayed and short, I juts struggled to find inspiration to write longer and decided to keep this part short in the end. Quality over quantity ya know?_**

 ** _For anyone who thinks that I might be foreshadowing future relationships, I might be… except Yang x Ruby._**

 ** _If you thought I was shipping Yang x Ruby… you should probably evaluate how you got to the point where you saw any sibling relationship as incest :/_**

 ** _On that depressing note_**

 ** _See ya!_**


	6. Conversations and death

_**Hehe… so this is awkward ain't it? Explanation at the end**_

 _ **~§~**_

Yang watched from her hiding spot as the Beowulf- as Atlas called them- prowled by, its red eyes scanning around it through its angular mask. Yang leaned out and saw Pyrrha behind another car watching the Beowulf closely before looking at Yang and giving a little nod.

Yang grinned behind Blake's purple scarf and looked down the street to where Jaune was behind another car. He looked at her and paled slightly as she nodded, he visibly sighed before suddenly standing and running out into the street, sword and shield in hand.

The Beowulf paused and studied him before going low and growling threateningly.

"Nice wolfy" Said Jaune shakily as he tried to hide behind his shield more "good wolfy"

The Grimm ground before bounding forward, Yang and Pyrrha taking their cues and emerging from hiding, as quietly as they could following the Beowulf.

"I hate this, I hate this, I hate this" chanted Jaune as he ducked behind his shield as the Beowulf lunged and bowled him over, pressing down on his shield.

Before it could do much more Yang broke into a sprint and brought up her gauntlets which she had spray painted yellow, the spikes glinting in the sunlit before her fist connected with the Beowulf's side.

The Beowulf yelped and stumbled, then turned to her with a growl and prepared to lunge at her, she smirked though as it didn't notice Pyrrha suddenly run up and implant her spear into its neck. It froze before going limp and falling to the floor, Pyrrha yanking out her spear as Jaune scrambled up and readied himself as the corpse bubbled and writhed and Grimm began to emerge from it.

Yang launched forward and punched a Grimm in the head, sending it flying as it dissolved while next to her Pyrrha speared a Grimm's head before then pulling it out, twirling her spear and herself and in the same movement skewering another in the head.

Jaune bashed a Grimm with his shield then bright his sword down in its head, killing it as he struggled to rio hi sword out as another Grimm approached. He tugged desperately as the Grimm got close and closer, it's black hand reaching for him as that impossibly wide maw opened-

Yang appeared as bashed the Grimm in the side of the head, crushing its skull.

"Thanks" Said Jaune as he finally ripped his blade free.

Yang simply nodded before turning and punching again, the last of the Grimm falling to the ground.

"That's all of them" Said Pyrrha looking around "we should move quick"

Yang and Jaune nodded and they ran to the convenience store, Pyrrha discovering it was unlocked as they slipped in, the lights on and a low hum indicating the fridges were still on much to Jaune and Pyrrha happiness and Yang's continued confusion, but she had no time to question it as they all got their backpacks and began to try and find what they could.

By the looks of it the store had been raided before and not much was left, but a few cans and some stuff in the fridges were still there, likely not being taken due to the lack of fridge by previous raiders. Luckily the church had a fridge in it's small kitchen area as Yang opened a fridge and took off her gauntlets so she could more easily grab things as she began to put cold food into her backpack.

As she finished filling her bag her eyes caught something brown and she looked over to see one glass of beer, solitary and surrounded by the freezer light like God himself had blessed it.

Yang stared before grabbing it, holding it in her hands like it was an artifact on an archeological dig. Then she heard a shuffling beside her and looked up to see a Grimm (now referred to as an 'Imp' by Atlas) shambling toward her, she prepared her fists before she realised she'd taken them off and her pack was a few meters away.

She cursed before slamming the bottle over the Grimm's head, it stumbled backward with a snarl as the bottle smashed. Yang growled and pounced forward, sticking the cracked bottle into its neck and shoving it to the floor. Then Yang pulled the bottle from its neck and brought it down on the Grimm's head, shoving it deep into where she guessed the temple was as the Grimm repeatedly snapped its jaw.

It eventually stopped moving and Yang fell backwards, resting temporarily as Pyrrha rounded the corner, spear at the ready. She lowered it as she saw Yang lying on the floor and the decaying body of a Grimm.

"Are you hurt? Bitten?" Asked Pyrrha, the grip on her spear tightening slightly.

"No" waved off Yang "I'm angry though, I just found a good bottle of beer!" She said, her hand waving in the Grimm body's direction, the sharp glass top rolling to the floor.

"I'm sure there are others" Said Pyrrha, extending a hand which Yang took, Pyrrha pulling her to her feet.

"Ha, not if sane people still live in this fuckin' city" laughed Yang as she slipped her gauntlets back on.

"Is everything okay?" Asked Jaune as he rounded a corner.

"About a minute late Jaune" Said Yang as she put her pack on her backpack.

~§~

Weiss growled in annoyance as the Imp she was going for was smashed to the ground and its head was caved in under Sun's staff.

"Do you mind?" She asked as she twirled and skewered a different Grimm on Myrtenaster.

"What?" Asked Sun, Weiss glowering as she heard the grin in his voice.

"You know what" she shot back as she cleaved another Grimm's arm off before delivering a swift kick followed by severing its head.

"I really don't" Said Sun, bashing two Grimm into each other followed by knocking them into a wall.

Weiss growled and turned, stamping her foot "Yes you do you-"

"Aaaaiiiiiih!" Screeched Neptune as he kicked a cut in half Grimm that had been crawling toward his leg "can you two fucking help!" he snapped as he brought his glaive down into its head.

"You look like you got things handled" grinned Sun as he rested on his staff

"You're an asshole!" Shot back Neptune as he cleaved a Grimm in two and skewered another on his glaive.

"I'm hurt" pouted Sun before he quickly twirled the staff and hit a Grimm in its chin, sending it flying into the air and bashing a wall.

"Can you two stop acting like children" growled Weiss as she stabbed and then pushed a Grimm.

"Maybe you should stop acting like an adult" Said Sun

"Well someone has to" she muttered.

Eventually the last Grimm fell leaving them alone in the alley they were in. "Finally" stretched Sun "I thought they wouldn't stop"

"Come on" said Weiss as she strode forwards.

Sun slung his staff behind his neck, looping his arms over it "aye aye ice queen"

Weiss paused and turned with a glare "what did you say?"

"I said aye aye ice queen"

Weiss's eyes twitched "ice queen" she repeated, seething as she stalked toward him.

"Mmm, seemed fitting" said Sun with a grin as Weiss stopped in front of him, showing the height difference between them.

Weiss glared up at him with a glare that could melt steel. "Do not call me that"

"Alright" Said Sun "Weiss it is"

Weiss's eyes narrowed but she turned and walked back through the alley toward the street. Sun shook his head and looked at Neptune who was panting wide eyed.

"You okay dude?" He Asked

Neptune turned to him "do I look okay?"

"C'mon man" he said, tapping his shoulder as he followed after Weiss "gotta keep up with Weiss cream"

~§~

Yang gave a sigh of relief as they rounded the corner and the church came into view, the tower that looked over the street now looking like a proper snipers nest. Looking up she couldn't see Ruby but knew she was looking at them as she gave a wave.

Visually the Church hadn't changed except for the tower, however as Ren opened the door wide enough for them to slip in the inside had changed massively.

Yang looked around the church with a small smile. Over the past week since their group had formed it had gone from sparse and uninteresting to actually looking inhabited. Their group had raided several stores for clothes, camping equipment and supplies.

Now instead of sleeping in blankets on top of pews they each had little cloth tents with mattresses they could sleep on, everyone with their own bed except Ren and Nora who shared. The middle of the church was a communal area where they ate meals and talked.

Next to Yang's yellow tent was a small workshop area she had set up, they had gotten supplies and now she made sure the weapons were sharp and deadly.

"Are we back first?" Asked Yang

"Yeah, you're the first" confirmed Ren

The radio on one of the pews crackled and Ruby's voice spoke "Yang! Yang!"

Yang smiled as she walked over, already knowing the question her sister was about to ask her "Yes Ruby?"

"Did you find any cookies?"

Yang shook her head with a grin "No Ruby, I'm afraid not"

"This apocalypse is getting on my fucking nerves" sighed Ruby before squeaking

"Ruby Rose! Language!" Said Yang. The radio was silent and Yang frowned in worry "Ruby?"

"Sorry" Said Ruby quietly "you just sounded a lot like mom"

Yang froze, staring at the radio for several moments before she took a deep breath "right" she said, internally wincing as she heard how cold she sounded as she dumped the radio back on the pew and walked toward her workshop area, not noticing Pyrrha, Ren and Jaune looking at her in concern. Nora was eagerly trying to see what they got.

~§~

The mission was without a hitch, which was only natural considering she was leading it thought Weiss as they crept through streets and alleys.

They had gone to raid a store which was a fair distance away from the church for sanitation products among other things. Weiss was relieved at how easy the mission had been considering how it started with the attack in the alley, and Sun.

She didn't like Sun, the way he constantly talked to her as if they were friends. The way he sometimes assisted her without her asking, the grin on his face as he wound her up. The way his shirt would sometimes move and give her an amazing glimpse of his toned and muscled body-

Weiss shook her head with a scowl. No, he was annoying and an ass and other terms she couldn't think of right now. But she was also pained to admit that his years spent living on the streets were extremely useful in this environment, especially when compared to her own which she found appalling.

And the way he seemed to always, _always_ , talked.

"So what was it like living in a mansion?"

"Cold" she growled out, finding that the easiest way to shut him up was to simply answer his questions.

"What? Did you not turn the heating on?"

"… it was expensive to heat an entire mansion"

"Hashtag first world problems" mumbled Sun

Neptune had to try hard not to sigh any louder as Weiss spun round and faced Sun "for your information, my father couldn't be bothered to fish out the lien required to keep the entire mansion warm" she crossed her arms and turned away "I didn't have a choice"

She marched away before he could respond, Neptune glaring at him as he walked by.

"What?"

"Dude, stop pissing her off every five minutes"

"I'm just curious"

"Stop being a jackass"

Sun looked at him before sighing and rolling his eyes sliding his staff on his shoulders and hooking his arms over it. "So, what was your favorite thing to do as a child?"

Weiss paused slightly before looking at him suspiciously then looking away "I liked to read" then she smiled slightly "and Klein used to make up activities for me" her smile faded as regret and sadness overtook it.

"Uh- well I liked to go into markets and see what I could steal" said Sun

Weiss huffed "and why doesn't that surprise me?"

"Hey, I stole for kids who couldn't steal for themselves" defended Sun

"Then I stole from my parents" interjected Neptune

"Yeah, to feed me" said Sun, wrapping an arm round his shoulder "so it was for a good cause"

"I regret it"

"No you don't"

"If this guy showed up on your door step, would you feed him?" asked Neptune looking at Weiss while Sun grinned.

"Need I remind you two that we still have a ways to go until the church, and that Grimm could attack at any moment" said Weiss, then seeing their expressions sighed "and only out of pity"

"Wow, thanks" said Sun sarcastically.

"I only fed you cause you wouldn't go away until I did"

"Yeah, let's ignore all those times you talked to me and complained about your rich friends"

"You were decent company"

Sun just rolled his eyes, but smiled seeing the slight smile on Weiss's face that lasted all the way back to the church and wondering why it made him feel warm.

~§~

Jaune winced as he massaged his arm, his arms and back sore from the Beowulf jumping on him and holding him down as it tried to eat him. He shuddered at that though and flexed his arm, hoping that would remove the pain.

"Jaune?" Asked Pyrrha as she walked into his tent.

"Hi Pyrrha" Jaune quickly tiredly to hide his bruised arm by rolling up his jumper sleeve "do you need something?"

"No, but I imagine you do" Said Pyrrha with a light smile as she revealed the bottled water and some pain killer tablets, Jaune eyed the tablets and water before shaking his head.

"No, no I don't that, I'm fine" he flashed a smile as Pyrrha narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Oh, Okay, I'll just… leave them here" Said Pyrrha as she placed them on the pew next to Jaune.

Jaune eyed them again and knew that as soon as Pyrrha was gone he was going to take some.

"Are you alright?" Asked Pyrrha as she looked him up and down.

"Yeah, Yeah, I'm fine" nodded Jaune, his eyes not able to meet those piercing green eyes that were clearly seeing straight through his bullshit.

"Well… I'm glad to hear it" smiled Pyrrha, her hand moving as if to touch him before going back to her side.

"Are you okay?" Asked Jaune

"Oh yeah, just… really tired" she finally said.

"Don't let me keep you from sleeping then" Said Jaune quickly "you should rest after all that work you did today"

"You did a lot of work too, without you we would've taken longer" Said Pyrrha encouragingly.

Jaune looked up at her and smiled slightly "thanks"

"You're an important person here" said Pyrrha "and if you ever need help-"

"No, it's fine Pyrrha" Said Jaune gruffly and looking away.

Pyrrha blinked before letting her shoulders fall "Okay Jaune, I'll… leave you to it" She said, walking back to the entrance of the tent, casting one last look at Jaune before going through the flap.

Jaune looked after her for a moment before grabbing the bottle and pills.

He looked at them for a long time before finally putting the pills aside and taking a swill of the water.

If no one else needed help then he didn't either.

~§~

Ren sat crossed legged and meditated, nothing interrupting him. The sounds of the others in the church had long since faded to a white noise in the background.

It was peaceful and quiet, not a noise or sensation to distract him-

A quiet muttering arose from nearby and he frowned, as it persisted for several minutes he finally sighed and opened an eye.

Nora was sat on their bed and scribbling in a coloring book which was one of her favorite things to do, all the while muttering to herself.

He observed her for several moments "Nora"

She paused and looked up at him inquisitively.

"You were muttering again"

"What? No I wasn't" said Nora shaking her head

"Yes you were"

"No I wasn't"

"Yes you were"

"No I wasn't"

Ren looks at her before sighing "maybe it was just my imagination then" he said, closing his eye. However instead of starting to meditate again he simply listened to Nora scribbling in the colouring book, counting in his head until.

Nora began to mutter to herself again.

It had taken three minutes and fourteen seconds.

Ren sighed before standing up "I'm just going out for a moment Nora" he said.

Nora looked up at him and nodded before going back to her colouring.

Ren exited the tent and walked into the body of the church, the fire they had set up in the centre crackling happily but no one sitting around it, Yang still in her mini workshop area, Ruby up in her sniper tower, Weiss, Pyrrha and Jaune retired to their tents and Sun and Neptune siting around the fire.

He nodded at them and they nodded back before continuing with their own conversation. Ren sat down on an available pew and closed his eyes, starting up the meditation process. But it took him a long time to fall into a trance, his thoughts troubled by Nora, and her muttering to herself.

~§~

Yang walked up the circular stairwell and emerged in the snipers nest, proper walls that Ruby could rest the gun on had been installed and she'd even gotten herself a camping chair.

Ruby turned and her eyes widened slightly at the sight of Yang "h-hey Yang" She stuttered.

Yang internally winced and felt a sharp sting come to her chest at the fear in her sisters voice. Her fear of her.

Yang grimaced and faltered slightly before sighing and holding up half a tin of still hot soup she'd brought up. Ruby's eyes widened and she took it, a small smile coming to her face as she ate a spoonful.

Yang pulled up an extra camping chair tucked into the corner and sat down next to her sister letting her eat in peace fro a few minutes as she observed the city in an orange glow. To the west in the distance were the just visible start of the skyscrapers that packed the centre of Vale, they were quite far south from the coastline though.

"I'm… I'm sorry" Yang finally said.

Ruby looked up at her and looked away "about what?"

"Earlier"

"Oh, don't worry about it, it doesn't matter"

"Yes it does!" Snapped Yang before taking a breath "I shouldn't of… of…" Yang trailed off and rubbed her face, since when was it so hard to apologize to her sister?

They stayed in silence for a moment "I'm sorry, okay?" Said Yang looking at her sister.

Ruby looked at her before nodding "okay"

Yang smiled, even though she wasn't feeling any emotion even near happiness "so, we cool?"

"We cool" nodded Ruby giving a smile.

"Good" Said Yang before grinning and suddenly grabbing her, pulling her into a surprise hug as Ruby squawked and the empty tin and spoon went flying from her hands.

"'ang!" whined Ruby thrashing again the embrace.

"I hate being on bad terms with my baby sister!" cooed Yang teasingly.

After some struggling Yang relented and let Ruby go, Ruby straightening her red cloak which she had began wearing when she was on watch "head on down and get some rest, I'll take first watch" Said Yang

"You sure?" Asked Ruby.

"Of course I am, when am I not?" Asked Yang giving her a light push "go on, get some rest"

Ruby looked at her before nodding "I'll see you in the morning"

"See you in the morning" nodded Yang as Ruby descended the stairs.

Yang breathed in a deep breath of the city air, Vale had always smelt like any other city. But since the Grimm came there was a new scent added to the mix, something foul that wasn't immediately detectable but you could just sense it.

She leant back in her chair, the street outside the church quiet and unmoving. She grabbed the purple scarf around her neck and brought it to her nose, a smile on her lips as she smelt the familiar smell.

Blake.

Yang frowned as she pulled the scarf away from her face, why was she suddenly all gooey for this girl? How could she of developed any emotion for the girl in such a short time?

Her thoughts wandered and she thought about what Blake might be doing right now.

She sighed "probably more interesting then what I'm currently doing"

~§~

Blake slowly crawled along, she knew that using the shadows as cover would do little to help, having read the white fang reports about how the Grimm were attracted to other unknown factors apart from just sight or noise.

But she felt more comfortable in the shadows, even if every muscle in her body was tense and ready to spring. She stopped as her target shuffled slightly, the Grimm's head flopping to the side. She steadied her breathing and got ready, crouching and getting ready to strike.

Her ears twitched as she heard a noise way off, like gun fire. She ignored it and silently slid her Katana and a knife into her hands.

She took a silent breath.

Then she struck.

She shot from the shadows, her body revealing itself as she planted the knife into the Grimm's neck and dragged it into the shadows, wrapping her legs around its waist. It gave a snarl as it gnashed it's teeth, every time it's teeth met being following by a click as it thrashed.

Blake quickly raised her katana and plunged into into the top of the Grimm's head and down, all movement ceasing from the Grimm. She retrieved her Katana and watched the body flop onto the ground, obscured by the shadows except for the slowly dimming eyes.

She looked around the store and quickly made her way to the can food section, dumping whatever she could that wouldn't weigh her down. Just as she was about to finish she spotted a tin of tuna. She was going to resist and turn away when her stomach voiced its protests and she closed her eyes before slipping a couple of tins.

She had been so distracted by the tins and her stomach that it came as quite a surprise when the gun was pressed into her back.

"Well well well" said a voice "look what I've caught, a cute little kitty"

Blake remained frozen, not even snarling at the remark.

"Okay, now your going to turn around so I can see that face of yours" Said the man, the gun being taken away from her back but Blake knowing he was looking at her intently.

She clenched her fists and slowly turned to be faced to face with a man in a red bandanna and sunglasses, the only visible feature was the white hair falling out his hoodie. He seemed to look her over before giving a low moan followed by a chuckle "ho-hoh yeah, we're keeping you"

Blake narrowed her eyes and her ears went flat as she bared her teeth, her gas mask blocking his view of the reaction which she was glad for.

"Cardin will probably want to break you in first though" his shoulders slumped slightly before perking up again. "But he does usually give you back when he's done" he chuckled lecherously "I don't mind waiting all that much"

Blake felt pretty disgusted, from what she was interpreting here this man belonged to a group that were just as bad if not worse then the white fang.

"You do that to all your female captives?" She asked.

"Aw, kitty has a voice" mocked the man "and only to the faunus ones, we usually shoved the male faunus in a cage and make 'me fight each other… or the bones without weapons"

Blake narrowed her eyes further.

"Don't look at me like that, give it a few days and you'll love me" he turned his head slightly "hey guys! I got on-"

Blake leapt forward and tackled the man, both of them falling to the floor as the man's gun sprayed wildly at the ceiling as Blake punched him in the face, revealing his green eyes as the sunglasses broke.

Then Blake grabbed his belt and pulled the pistol from it. She looked up as she heard running footsteps and pulled the man savagely to his feet before pressing the gun harshly into his cheek. The man still dazed from the punch as three of his allies appeared, all dressed similar to him.

"Woah Woah Woah" Said one of them, Blake wasn't quite sure which "Hey Hey, let's just take it easy"

Blake glared at the guns "lower them"

"We don't take orders from-"

Blake shoved the gun harder into the man's cheek "do it or he dies"

The men looked at each other before one lowered his gun, the other two doing the same after a moment's hesitation.

"Who are you?" She asked, emphasizing who was in control by pulling the man's hair harder causing him to cry out in pain.

"We're just part of this small group" said one

"Yeah, we're just cautious around new people" said another.

Blake snarled and then aimed the gun down before firing, the man in her grasp howling as his foot bled from the gunshot wound "do not lie to me again" she threatened.

"Okay okay! We're this big group, we have a stronghold in a mall an hour south" Said one quickly.

"Yeah, we're just scavenging" Said another.

Blake mulled this over "whose your leader"

"This guy called Cardin, he's strong and tough" said one, clearly trying to intimidate her and failing.

"What's the name of the mall"

"It's the… the Vale something"

"Vale South Oliver Mall"

"Yeah, that"

Blake took a deep breath and stared at them intensely "what do you do with faunus?"

"Nothing! We don't do anything with-"

He was cut off as another gunshot rang through the air and the hostage man cried out again as his other foot was shot "What do you do with the faunus!" Shouted Blake.

"Look, we just… just-"

"We treat them like the animals you are" snarled one man interrupting another "I lost my job to a faunus"

"The white fang killed my sister" Said another.

Blake noted how their guns were beginning to rise, clearly taking their anger out on some faunus was now looking very appealing. If she let them go they'd tell their leader who would cause trouble for her.

She made a decision.

The gunshot was loud and clear as her hostage fell dead to the floor. The men stared in shock and before they could react further she brought the gun up and fired off, killing two of them as the other backed off "wait wait w-"

Blake didn't like using guns, the noise hurting her sensitive ears. She looked at the four dead bodies before dropping the gun to the floor and stepping over one of the men, his blood forming in a pool around him.

She had some investigating to do.

~§~

Ironwood stood in the control room, banks of screens cluttering the walls around him as people talked and moved.

'How had it come to this' he thought regretfully

They had initially had it contained and covered up, blaming all manner of things to justify Verloor's evacuation. And upon failing that simply keeping the Grimm contained in Verloor. Then of course the white fang had managed to contain and ship the substance around the world, every kingdom noticing a large sudden movement of faunus to Menagerie.

Of course, they could just deny the faunus travel but they'd most likely find a way over anyway and the public uproar from such a move would be overwhelming. So they had monitored as more faunus left, though in the grand scheme of things it was a small number. Even white fang attacks decreased.

Then reports of G.R.I.M.M began to come in from every kingdom and city, requests for aid and help decreasing as the hours wore on until only Atlas and Patch were left.

Salt water was the answer, the Grimm avoided it like the plague and research could not ascertain the reason why.

An aid grabbed his attention and he turned his head.

"The meeting is starting in five minutes sir" said Glynda.

Ironwood bowed his head "thank you" with that he turned and left the large room, their hands connecting in a fleeting touch, a promise for later.

He walked into the room and it's members stood.

"At ease" he said and the members sat down with him before he turned to Oobleck, his head of science and research.

"How soon until the Ark project is completed?"

"The construction is going well and we are on track for the project to be completed in a few months" Said Oobleck

"Excellent"

"However, we may not have that time before a massive scale attack" Said Oobleck grimly

"How do you mean?" Asked Ironwood.

"We have several key points of information from project Bubo" said Oobleck "if you would observe the screen" he gestured and the wall screen turned on to reveal several files as Oobleck clicked the first one titled 'G.R.I.M.M observation'

The image changed to a video which began playing, it was footage from a drone that was traveling at high speeds over corrupted forest land, when Ironwood was beginning to get annoyed and bored a city appeared on the horizon.

Soon they were over it as the drone slowed down and began to circle, the camera turning to zoom in on the street "This is the city of Verloor, the first city to fall-"

"I know" grunted Ironwood, staring at the familiar city with regret.

The drone feeds focused on streets which seemed to be lined with black goo, then Ironwood realized with horror and agitation that it was thousands of Imps, shuffling and moving in one direction. Along building rooftops bounded Beowulf's while some simply charged through the Imps below without care. The camera traced the path of the Grimm and showed them walking along motorways or even over the fields and forests to the west of the city.

"As you can see they are moving as one entity, all at the same speed and in one direction, West" Said Oobleck as the video ended.

"Toward us" Said Ironwood grimly

"Precisely" nodded Oobleck, his emotions not quite clear due to his always excited voice.

"I want all motorways and highways in and out of Atlas destroyed" he ordered, an aide nodding and hurrying off.

"That's won't stop their advance" Said Port, an old general with a good eye for strategy and tactics.

"I'm not trying to" Said Ironwood "I need to delay them, if I have to use dust to do it then I will"

"I would advise against dust bombs" Said Oobleck pushing up his glasses "we don't want to be contending with the effects too many would have on our planet as well as the Grimm"

Ironwood ignored him, having heard the doctors complaints many times and knowing they were true. But if he needed to he would not hesitate to use them in the defense of his people.

"Is there anything else you wanted to show me?"

Oobleck and Port looked at each other "we believe that we have found the source of the Grimm"

"I know the source, it was just outside of Verloor, one of the subjects in the testing facility-"

"We mean the source, sir, where they're coming from" stated Port.

Ironwood furrowed his brows but gestured for them to continue. They brought up another video, again it was a project Bubo drone as it flew over landscape, below trees turned black as in the distance was a red haze.

Ironwood leaned forward as it drew closer to the red haze before entering it, the video freed becoming grainy before becoming clear again, only interrupted by fuzz every few seconds.

"The drone analysed a sample of the fog and it's just oxygen" Said Oobleck "we don't know how or why it looks like that, that or its not detectable by our analyses techniques"

The drone flew lower and at a slower speed to reveal the ground below which had been turned to a black swamp land, the trees converted to purple crystals as Ironwood raised his eyebrows at the image.

Then he saw it, at the edges of these pools crawled Imps and Beowulf's that shook themselves off, then ambled in one direction.

"It seems the gas does not agree with the drones, as shown next" Said Oobleck as the camera feed began to tilt then it turned into a roll as the craft plummeted to the ground and landed in the bog, then it went black as the feed was cut off "luckily the self destruct seems to still work"

"Do we have a precise location?" Asked Ironwood.

"Yes sir" nodded Port.

"I want it destroyed" Said Ironwood.

"That will require a lot of man power and equipment which we need he-"

"You didn't hear me" Said Ironwood before steepling his hands and leaning forward "I want it destroyed"

The room went silent before Port stood "do you confirm the order, sir?"

"I confirm the use of dust to destroy the source" said Ironwood looking into his eyes.

They stared for several seconds, Oobleck to the side frowning in disapproval, then Port straightened and nodded "we will begin preparations sir" he said grimly.

Ironwood simply nodded and the meeting continued on to more mundane topics.

 _ **~§~**_

 _ **I'm sorry for the wait, I just lacked some motivation to write for this. But then I read through it and found myself getting sucked into it and when I found out it was only 5 chapters I was upset. Then I realised I was the author.**_

 _ **So hopefully I should keep updates coming along and I definitely have a vague plot hashed out and written down. But don't expect once a week updates, maybe one every two weeks at minimum, but I'm gonna get this story finished.**_

 _ **So let's get restarted.**_


	7. Threat

Blake had been watching the building for a few hours now, the mall was several stories tall, large amounts of light pouring out of it's glass roof. Around it's entrance was a wooden wall making a small courtyard, the walls having walkways that armed guards patrolled.

There was a rumble from the sky and she looked up to see thunder clouds slowly approaching, rain in the distance blurring the light from the street lamps to the south of the city. She stood up and began to run along rooftops toward the mall.

She hopped over one last alleyway gap and stood, there was a wide jump separating her and the shattered window she was planning on jumping to, below an alley with a fire escape for the building she was currently on. She looked at the shattered glass on the window frame and was glad she was wearing her gloves as she walked backwards till her feet hit the small wall stopping her from falling to her death.

It was a good starting point for the run up to the jump where if she failed she'd fall to her death.

With the sobering thought she took a deep breath before sprinting forward, her feet pounding into the roof of the building as the edge came nearer and nearer, the window looking like an open maw waiting to swallow her.

Then she stepped onto the small wall and flung herself forward, her hoodie falling and her hair falling out behind her. Then she was through the window and rolled, crouching and quickly scanning the dark room which she had landed in.

It seemed to be a storage room, she stood and pulled her hoodie back up and walked over to the door where light was coming through from the crack underneath. She checked her katana and knife one last time before opening the door delicately.

Light flooded her vision and she blinked as she adjusted from the darkness to see a brightly lit mall walkway, the guard rail on the other side that looked down into the centre of the mall crowded with cheering spectators. She wondered if she could try fitting in before remembering what the men had said they did to faunus and also noting no faunus among them.

She closed the door and began thinking she may have to find another entrance before her eyes caught the ceiling. It was made up of ceiling tiles. She hopped on top of a crate and then another before lifting up a ceiling tile and looking around to see a space she could easily crawl through if she was careful.

With no other alternative she pulled herself into the space, sliding the ceiling tile back onto the hole but not perfectly. She looked around her, occasional walls and beams and pipes cut off certain sections but a grate with light throwing through it was several meters away, Blake noting it was in the direction of the people and the wall.

As she got closer the cheers got louder and louder and she was finally looking through the grate. There were three rows of walkways all with people cheering and crowding round the hand rail, what they were cheering at made Blake scowl as rage filled her. Two faunus men were fighting on the ground floor, several other dead bloody bodies around them.

Sitting on a throne a floor above the 'arena' was a large man in what looked to be a suit of armour, several armed guards stood at his side and several scantily clad women lounged around him. Blake watched for several minutes before finally one man was punched to the floor.

The crowd roared as the faunus man panted, his body bloody and bruised as he turned in the direction of the throne and the crowds fell silent.

The man on the throne- who Blake could only assume was Cardin as mentioned by the men she'd killed- seemed completely indifferent as he ate an apple. Then he gave a thumbs down.

The crowd roared with blood lust again as the man screamed insults and swears while a door to a pet shop was opened and out came several Imps. Blake watched as the man ran to the opposite side of the arena and the Imps closed in on him.

She looked away as his screams filled the air and the crowd jeered and roared in pleasure, she scowled at the crowd, feeling disgust at their wanton blood lust and hatred of a living being who had only been slightly different from them. Then she noted those hanging away from the crowds, men and women, some with children, others on their own. They all had similar expressions to herself and she pitied them, this was clearly a safe place if you were a human, but the atrocities being committed were terrible.

She turned and continued to crawl through the space. She crawled for a long time, using wall spaces and vents to move between floors, looking through ceiling panels to see various scenes. Two men on patrol bragging about their latest 'conquests', a woman and man arguing while a crying child sat in a corner, two women planning on leaving the mall by stealing some supplies, a man crying as he took a long drink of a bottle while holding a photo of a woman and a kid in his hand.

She stopped after an hour of crawling and after a brief sip of her water bottle before then hearing a voice, cocky and deep, below her.

"The people love me" Said the voice and she moved a ceiling panel slightly and looked down into some sort of room, Cardin sitting behind a desk while a man with a green mohawk and another man with blur hair.

"They do, but we can't keep killing the faunus captives like you are, we're going to run out"

"Then we'll just get more" shrugged Cardin.

"From where?"

Cardin frowned and leaned forward slightly "Are you questions me, Russel?"

The man with the green mohawk 'Russel' gulped and shook his head quickly "no, of course not, it's just that it's taking to much time and resources to hunt for male faunus, and as time goes on they're getting harder and harder to find" said Russel quickly.

Cardin seemed to keep looking at him for a few moments before leaning back with that same smile "So your saying it can still be done"

Russel wore an expression that suggested he wanted to argue but instead just decided upon nodding "Yes"

"Excellent" He said "anything else you wanted to talk about?"

"We lost a scavenger party to the east" Said blue hair.

"So?"

"It's where we saw that evidence of that smaller settlement"

Blake's eyes widened as she realised they were talking about the church.

"So?" Asked Cardin again.

"Sir, this is clearly a first strike" Said Russel.

Cardin nodded slowly "I see" he said, his hand stroking his chin "prepare a scouting force, under the guise of peaceful intentions, we lure them in then take them"

Blake narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth underneath her mask. She needed to warn them, she needed to warn Yang. She turned and began to crawl away, but her leg accidentally kicked the ceiling tile and it fell into the room below. She didn't wait for a reaction as she crawled fast, hearing gun shots tear through the ceiling tiles behind her.

As she crawled she heard people shouting and running.

"We got an intruder!"

"Search the ceiling!"

"Let's find this son of a bitch!"

Her journey back was much quicker then her exploration had been, probably because she had a set destination and she had given up on trying to avoid being caught. She grunted when a ceiling tile she was crawling over shifted followed by a cry of "here!"

She managed to avoid being pumped full of bullets as she rolled to the side then forward quickly, barely stopping for breath. She finally made it to the tilted ceiling tile and hopped down into the deserted storage room without even checking in her haste to escape.

She regretted that as she found herself surrounded by several men with guns who had clearly been searching this room. She cursed as she slipped a knife from her belt and stabbed a man int the back as she spun and used him as a bullet shield before pulling her katana and hopping over his corpse.

Bullets flew around her as she sliced one man across the neck and kicked another man in the chest, sending him flying and knocking over one of his comrades, landing on top of him.

Blake back flipped and stabbed another man through the heart before then yanking his body in front of her and using it as a shield as she grabbed the man's gun and with him still in front of her mowed down the remaining men in the room.

She dropped the corpse and walked over to the struggling man underneath his unconscious comrades body, she plunged her Katana through both their bodies before then grunting as she was kicked in the side. She looked up to see more men entering the room with guns and melee weapons as the man who kicked her grinned and advanced.

She glanced toward the window and noted that the rain was now heavy and the wind billowed in, that would conceal her easily, but it was still rain. She decided however as more men piled into the room that it was the best option as she ran toward the window and without hesitation jumped as cries and gunfire echoed around her.

She reached her arms up, seeing she wasn't going to make it. Then grunted as the air left her lungs when her chest collided with the wall and her hands clutched the edge of the building. Then she yelped as the bricks around her hand exploded and several shards scratched her hand as she let go.

Her back struck something and she cried out before she fell to the side and hit something soft but smelly. More gunshots echoed around her and she shot up, glad her legs still worked as she sprinted from the alley as she heard shouts and an alarm blaring.

She didn't care though, Blake ran, loosing her pursuers in the night and rain.

She was bruised, bloody and battered. She needed help, and she knew just where to get it.

~§~

Yang yawned again, she was ready to be replaced on nights watch, nothing at all having happened through the night except for rain and thunder that had made her thankful she was under cover.

Then there was a crash, not of thunder but of a trash can being knocked over that made her jump and very wide awake, she frowned and leaned forward, searching through the night and rain for anything out of the ordinary.

She saw it quickly, the street lamps illuminating the street a dark figure was stumbling toward her, one hand on their waist as the other used the wall to support them. It couldn't be a grimm as they didn't do that, that was a human.

She grabbed the rifle and zoomed in, trying to make out more detail. Her scope must of reflected the light as the figure looked up and Yang's breath hitched.

She recognised those amber eyes anywhere.

Then the figure collapsed.

~§~

Everyone was awoken as Yangs thundering steps echoed through the church as she bolted down the spiral staircase. She didn't care as she ran to the church door and pulled it open, the door being pushed open further by a sharp burst of wind as some rain managed to get in.

She ran through the street, her way illuminated by street lamps as her footsteps echoed through the street. She made it to the figure to see an Imp looming over them, about to descend with jaws wide open.

She gave an angry cry and shoved the Imp with the lack of a weapon to use, crouching down and hauling the faunus girl to her feet before beginning to run back as fast as she could with Blake's arm around her shoulders.

"This is not how I imagined our next meeting going" Said Yang as she hobbled for the open church doors, the others looking out worriedly.

"Warn…. Had to…. You….. Cardin…. Dangerous" panted Blake, Yang just barely catching the words.

"Hold on, lets get out of danger first" Said Yang.

There was a loud bang and she heard a thud of a body falling behind her, looking up at the sniper tower to see the figure of Ruby with her sniper rifle. She wasted no time as she made it through the doors and the group quickly closed them behind them.

Yang looked around for a pace to deposit Blake and the others quickly got the idea, Nora and Sun pushing some pews together into a makeshift bed as Ren brought over the medical supplies. After a blanket was hastily thrown on top of the wood surface Yang placed the faunus on the pews.

"We need to get her out of her gear" Said Ren.

Yang and the others nodded, moving quickly to remove her black jacket and knife belts, Yang lifting the girl's head to remove the gas mask around her mouth. Ren looked at her closely before then pulling up the black T-shirt, not caring to look at the girls body as he focused on the visible wounds.

"She's malnourished and exhausted, which is why she collapsed" he finally said after looking her over "she has some scrapes and cuts and we may need to keep an eye on to make sure they don't get infected, and someone will have to keep an eye on her"

"I'll do it" said Yang instantly.

Everyone turned to look at her and she shrugged "I know her the best, we can trust her"

"Who is she?" Asked Jaune.

"Her name is Blake, she saved my life and ice queen's over there" explained Yang, jerking a thumb at Weiss who have an indignant 'hey!' "She gave me this scarf" she grabbed the purple scarf around her neck.

Ruby tilted her head with an 'oh' expression in her face "I wondered where you got that from"

"Are you sure?" Asked Pyrrha "are you sure that we can trust her?"

"Positive" nodded Yang.

When no one could come up with an argument Yang picked Blake up while Sun, Nora and Pyrrha moved the medical pew (as Ruby had dubbed it and no one had had the heart (except Weiss) to name it anything else).

Yang looked down at the sleeping form of Blake before sighing and shaking her head "I hope you wake up soon, cause I have no idea what you were talking about"

Then suddenly from outside the church, from the city itself arose a sharp cry, millions upon millions of creatures all screaming into the sky that caused Yang to run out of her tent, everyone copying her actions as they looked around, fear running through their systems.

"What the fuck was that?" Asked Neptune.

~§~

 _ **~a few moments earlier~**_

~§~

Salem emerged from the dark waters and looked up to the sky, from the west and approaching rapidly was a bright light, so bright that it even pierced through her protective red shroud.

She smirked and watched as it came closer and closer.

Then it hit the red cloud.

The rocket immediately sputtered out and began to spin end over end as it careened to the floor. Salem moved herself back slightly and rose an arm as the missile impacted right in front of her, throwing up Grimm goo and sticking up out of the black swamp, slowly sinking.

Salem lowered her arm and grinned victoriously.

Then the missile thumped, and there was a whirring as goo began to evaporate and the missile began to glow.

Salem's eyes widened and she shot into the swamp as the device detonated.

She surfaced many kilometres away from the device, emerging and throwing her hand up to shield her eyes from the massive explosion still raging in the distance. It was a bubble of fire that was still burning as her red mist evaporated and retreated from it.

Then her eyes widened again as the crystal trees on the distant shore nearest the explosion suddenly shook and were shattered as the shockwave combined with millions of crystal shards thundered toward her, she ducked into her swamp again and waited a few seconds before emerging to see the landscape flattened around her.

She looked back to the explosion which she could now hear, a loud roaring sound of fire along with the low shudder as the swamp beneath her shook.

She growled, an intense fury coming over her and she let out a scream, her Imps and Beowulf's echoing with cries of rage all over the planet.

Then Salem turned to the nearest bank and began summoning Imps.

"Time to make them feel fear" she growled as she set to work.

 _ **~§~**_

 _ **Sorry this is so short but the current stage we're at in the plot demands it otherwise this fanfic will end up being really short.**_

 _ **But I hope you enjoyed it, follow and favourite to be ready for the next update!**_

 _ **See ya!**_


	8. Hiatus and apologies

**So… sorry to do this again, but I feel it's also fair to warn my readers when a Haitians or discontinuation is going to happen (trust me, I know the feeling of a story no longer updating with no explanation).**

 **Basically, I'm not at motivated or interested in writing this, which I feel is not only showing in my writing but also going to cause longer and longer delays. Maybe I'll find motivation to write for this at some point in the future but for now it'll be going to hiatus.**

 **I've got notes and an idea where the story would go, but I'm not interested in writing and it's making me anxious and stressed about needing to satisfy readers. So I feel this is necessary for those who need a heads up.**

 **Writing is supposed to be fun, but I don't find writing this fun. In the future that could change, but for now it's just the truth.**

 **Sorry again for doing this.**


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